Model Comparison

o4-mini vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Which is better in 2026?

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is 2.0x cheaper per token.

Verdict: o4-mini vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 — which is better?

o4-mini (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.

o4-mini outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail), while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 1 benchmark (Humanity's Last Exam). o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is roughly 2.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose o4-mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 5 shared benchmarks

Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 if…

  • cost matters — it's about 2.0x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

o4-mini outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail), while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 1 benchmark (Humanity's Last Exam).

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 costs less

For input processing, o4-mini ($1.10/1M tokens) is 3.7x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, o4-mini ($4.40/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($3.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, o4-mini is more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com
OpenAI
o4-mini
Input tokens$1.10
Output tokens$4.40
Best providerOpenAI
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$3.00
Best providerFireworks
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to o4-mini's 200,000 tokens. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while o4-mini is limited to 100,000 tokens.

OpenAI
o4-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Input262,144 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

o4-mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 does not.

o4-mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

o4-mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

o4-mini 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.

o4-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

o4-mini was released on 2025-04-16, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 was released on 2025-07-25.

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is 3 months newer than o4-mini.

o4-mini

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

Jul 25, 2025

1.0 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o4-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm o4-mini's training data extends to 2024-05-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's cutoff date.

o4-mini

May 2024

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

—

Provider Availability

o4-mini is available from OpenAI. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is available from Fireworks, Novita.

o4-mini

openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $1.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.40/1M

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

OpenAI
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher AIME 2025 score (92.7% vs 92.3%)
Higher GPQA score (81.4% vs 81.1%)
Higher TAU-bench Airline score (49.2% vs 46.0%)
Higher TAU-bench Retail score (71.8% vs 67.8%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (18.2% vs 14.7%)
OpenAIo4-mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen TeamQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against o4-mini and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

o4-mini
✓ Preferred
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
o4-mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507

FAQ

Common questions about o4-mini vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which is better, o4-mini or Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507?

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o4-mini is made by OpenAI and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does o4-mini compare to Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 in benchmarks?

o4-mini scores AIME 2024: 93.4%, AIME 2025: 92.7%, MathVista: 84.3%, MMMU: 81.6%, GPQA: 81.4%. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 scores MMLU-Redux: 93.8%, AIME 2025: 92.3%, WritingBench: 88.3%, IFEval: 87.8%, Creative Writing v3: 86.1%.

Is o4-mini cheaper than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is 3.7x cheaper for input tokens. o4-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output via openai. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 costs $0.30/M input and $3.00/M output via fireworks.

What are the context window sizes for o4-mini and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507?

o4-mini supports 200K tokens and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between o4-mini and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 262K), input pricing ($1.10 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes o4-mini and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507?

o4-mini is developed by OpenAI and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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