Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

GPT-4o mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash benchmark

Name: GPT-4o mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this head-to-head showdown, GPT-4o mini is more budget-friendly at $0.6/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

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Executive Verdict Summary

GPT-4o mini holds empirical advantage (2 of 3 metrics)

Coding / SWESWE-bench

GPT-4o miniTop code solve rate

ReasoningGPQA / Live

GPT-4o miniTop logical accuracy

Best Value$/1M Tok

GPT-4o miniLowest API billing cost

Speed / TokTok/Sec

GPT-4o miniFastest stream rate

Verified Advantage Breakdown

3 benchmarks evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

GPT-4o mini (2)Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash (1)

GPT-4o mini

2 of 3 Wins

✓Input price✓Output price

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

1 of 3 Wins

✓Context window

OpenAI

Leads 2 of 3

GPT-4o mini

Legacy small OpenAI model. Useful as a cheap baseline.

4o MiniElo 1,272In: $0.15 · Out: $0.6/1M

Alibaba

Leads 1 of 3

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (qwen/qwen3.6-flash). Preview until a second source matches.

In: $0.188 · Out: $1.125/1M

GPT-4 Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

4 models

Currently comparing GPT-4o mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o$10 GPT-4.5 Orion$150 OpenAI: GPT-4$60

Top Rival Showdowns for GPT-4o mini

All Matchups

Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Gemini 3 Pro vs Grok 4.6 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Qwen 3 Max

Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar LeaderGPT-4o mini Wins

GPT-4o mini

$0.6 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

GPT-4o mini (8)vsQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash (1)

GPT-4o mini: 8W (89%)Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash: 1W (11%)

← GPT-4o miniQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash →

🏆GPT-4o mini Leads(4/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark

GPT-4o minivsQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Preference Elo

1,272vs—

Coding Elo

—vs—

SWE-bench

41.2%vs—

LiveBench

48.1%vs—

GPQA Diamond

60.1%vs—

GPT-4o mini: 4WQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash: 0W

🏆GPT-4o mini Leads(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark

GPT-4o minivsQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Output speed

160 tok/svs—

Time to first token

130 msvs—

GPT-4o mini: 2WQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash: 0W

🏆GPT-4o mini Leads(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark

GPT-4o minivsQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Output price

$0.6/1Mvs$1.125/1M+$0.525/1M

Input price

$0.15/1Mvs$0.188/1M+$0.038/1M

Context window

128kvs1M+872k

GPT-4o mini: 2WQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash: 1W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

GPT-4o miniQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Preference Elo

GPT-4o mini1,272

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

LiveBench

GPT-4o mini48.1%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

SWE-bench

GPT-4o mini41.2%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

GPQA Diamond

GPT-4o mini60.1%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Time to first token

GPT-4o mini130 ms

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Output speed

GPT-4o mini160 tok/s

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Input priceGPT-4o mini +$0.038/1M

GPT-4o mini$0.15/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash$0.188/1M

Output priceGPT-4o mini +$0.525/1M

GPT-4o mini$0.6/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash$1.125/1M

Context windowQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash +872k

GPT-4o mini128k

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash1M

Benchmark	GPT-4o mini	Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash	Advantage Delta
Preference Elo	1,272 lmarena · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
LiveBench	48.1% livebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
SWE-bench	41.2% swebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
GPQA Diamond	60.1% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Time to first token	130 ms seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Output speed	160 tok/s seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Input price	$0.15/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	$0.188/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+$0.038/1M
Output price	$0.6/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	$1.125/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+$0.525/1M
Context window	128k openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+872k

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save 39% with GPT-4o mini

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

GPT-4o mini$14.25 / mo

In: $5.25Out: $9

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash$23.44 / mo

In: $6.56Out: $16.88

Estimated Cost Delta

GPT-4o mini is estimated to save $9.19/month ($110/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
GPT-4o mini:Pick GPT-4o mini when you are optimizing output cost.
2
Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash:Pick Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatGPT-4o mini

Lower output list price ($0.6/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	GPT-4o mini	Lower output list price ($0.6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4o mini	GPT-4o mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK

OpenAI

GPT-4o mini

Elo 1,272

SWE-bench41.2%

Speed (tok/s)160 tok/s

Input / 1M Tokens$0.15/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$0.6/1M

Alibaba

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Elo n/a

SWE-bench—

Speed (tok/s)1M

Input / 1M Tokens$0.188/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$1.125/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: GPT-4o mini output tokens are $0.6/1M versus $1.125/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. GPT-4o mini and Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All GPT-4o mini matchups →|All Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash matchups →

GPT-4o mini vs OpenAI o1-mini (next gpt-mini)GPT-5 vs GPT-4o mini Qwen 3 Max vs GPT-4o mini GPT-4.5 Orion vs GPT-4o mini GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-4o mini GPT-5.6 Terra vs GPT-4o mini

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

GPT-4o miniQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Preference Elo

GPT-4o mini1,272

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

LiveBench

GPT-4o mini48.1%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

SWE-bench

GPT-4o mini41.2%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

GPQA Diamond

GPT-4o mini60.1%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Time to first token

GPT-4o mini130 ms

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Output speed

GPT-4o mini160 tok/s

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash—

Input priceGPT-4o mini +$0.038/1M

GPT-4o mini$0.15/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash$0.188/1M

Output priceGPT-4o mini +$0.525/1M

GPT-4o mini$0.6/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash$1.125/1M

Context windowQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash +872k

GPT-4o mini128k

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash1M

Benchmark

GPT-4o mini

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Advantage Delta

Preference Elo

1,272

lmarena · Aug 17, 2026

—

LiveBench

48.1%

livebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

SWE-bench

41.2%

swebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

GPQA Diamond

60.1%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Time to first token

130 ms

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Output speed

160 tok/s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Input price

$0.15/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

$0.188/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+$0.038/1M

Output price

$0.6/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

$1.125/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+$0.525/1M

Context window

128k

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+872k

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatGPT-4o mini

Lower output list price ($0.6/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	GPT-4o mini	Lower output list price ($0.6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4o mini	GPT-4o mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

GPT-4o mini output tokens are $0.6/1M versus $1.125/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, GPT-4o mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 128k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. GPT-4o mini and Qwen: Qwen3.6 Flash Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.