GPT-5 Mini vs Qwen3.6 Flash
Price and specs side by side · USD per 1M tokens · verified 2026-10-23
// side by side
| metric | GPT-5 Mini | Qwen3.6 Flash |
|---|
| input / 1M | $0.25 | $0.25 |
| output / 1M | $2.00 | $1.50 |
| blended (3:1) | $0.6875 | $0.5625 |
| cache read / 1M | $0.025 | $0.025 |
| context | 400K | 1M |
| max output | 128K | 65.5K |
| input types | text · image | text · image · video |
| reasoning | yes | yes |
| tool calling | yes | yes |
| structured output | yes | yes |
| open weights | no | no |
| released | 2025-08-07 | 2026-04-27 |
| knowledge cutoff | 2024-05-30 | n/a |
| lab | OpenAI | Alibaba (Qwen) |
// monthly cost scenarios
| workload | tokens in / out | GPT-5 Mini | Qwen3.6 Flash |
|---|
| Chatbot | 10M / 2M | $6.50 | $5.50 |
| RAG app | 50M / 5M | $22.50 | $20.00 |
| Coding agent | 20M / 10M | $25.00 | $20.00 |
// verdict
- Qwen3.6 Flash is 18.2% cheaper than GPT-5 Mini on a blended 3:1 input/output basis.
- Qwen3.6 Flash has the larger context window (1M vs 400K tokens).
- Chatbot (10M input / 2M output tokens per month): Qwen3.6 Flash costs $5.50 vs $6.50 for GPT-5 Mini, saving $1.00 per month.
- RAG app (50M input / 5M output tokens per month): Qwen3.6 Flash costs $20.00 vs $22.50 for GPT-5 Mini, saving $2.50 per month.
- Coding agent (20M input / 10M output tokens per month): Qwen3.6 Flash costs $20.00 vs $25.00 for GPT-5 Mini, saving $5.00 per month.
// GPT-5 Mini or Qwen3.6 Flash: which one to choose
- Choose Qwen3.6 Flash for cost-sensitive, high-volume workloads.
- Choose Qwen3.6 Flash for long documents and large codebases (1M-token context).