Model Comparison
GPT-5.1 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Which is better in 2026?
GPT-5.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is 3.5x cheaper per token.
Verdict: GPT-5.1 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 — which is better?
GPT-5.1 (by OpenAI) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
GPT-5.1 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, Tau2 Airline, Tau2 Retail, Tau2 Telecom), while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 0 benchmarks. GPT-5.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is roughly 3.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GPT-5.1 also accepts a larger context window (400,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose GPT-5.1 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 400,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2025
Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 if…
- cost matters — it's about 3.5x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GPT-5.1 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, Tau2 Airline, Tau2 Retail, Tau2 Telecom), while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 0 benchmarks.
GPT-5.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, GPT-5.1 ($1.25/1M tokens) is 4.2x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-5.1 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($3.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GPT-5.1 is more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
GPT-5.1 accepts 400,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's 262,144 tokens. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while GPT-5.1 is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
GPT-5.1 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 does not.
GPT-5.1 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
GPT-5.1
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-5.1 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GPT-5.1 was released on 2025-11-13, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 was released on 2025-07-25.
GPT-5.1 is 4 months newer than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.
Nov 13, 2025
7 months ago
3mo newerJul 25, 2025
10 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-5.1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-09-30, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-5.1's training data extends to 2024-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's cutoff date.
Sep 2024
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Provider Availability
GPT-5.1 is available from OpenAI. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is available from Fireworks, Novita.
GPT-5.1
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
GPT-5.1
View detailsOpenAI
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about GPT-5.1 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.