API cost decision in 10 seconds

GPT-5.4 Mini vs Qwen3.5-9B

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.4 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.4 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.88 (96.2% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-9B

Context-first pickGPT-5.4 Mini

Sample savings$2.8896.2%

10x traffic gap$28.85

GPT-5.4 Mini has more context, but Qwen3.5-9B saves $2.88 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $28.85. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3.5-9B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GPT-5.4 Mini	Qwen3.5-9B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3.5-9B	$6	$0.28
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$5.25	$0.19
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$23.25	$0.79

Cheaper input Qwen3.5-9B $0.75 vs $0.04 / 1M

Qwen3.5-9B is $0.71 cheaper per 1M input tokens (94.7% lower; 18.8x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5-9B $4.5 vs $0.15 / 1M

Qwen3.5-9B is $4.35 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96.7% lower; 30x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.4 Mini 400K vs 262.14K

GPT-5.4 Mini has 137.86K more context (1.53x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-9B $3 vs $0.11

Qwen3.5-9B is $2.88 cheaper on the standard workload (96.2% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GPT-5.4 Mini Calculating… Estimated API cost

Qwen3.5-9B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Qwen3.5-9B has the lower input price; Qwen3.5-9B has the lower output price; GPT-5.4 Mini offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini and $0.11 for Qwen3.5-9B.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.4 Mini when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Qwen3.5-9B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.88 (96.2% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $2.88 cheaper on the standard workload (96.2% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $0.71 cheaper per 1M input tokens (94.7% lower; 18.8x difference).
Qwen3.5-9B is $4.35 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96.7% lower; 30x difference).
GPT-5.4 Mini has 137.86K more context (1.53x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI)	Qwen3.5-9B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.75	$0.04
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$4.5	$0.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3	$0.11
Context Window	400K	262.14K
Release Date	2026-03-17	2026-03-10

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3.5-9B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.88 (96.2% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3.5-9B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Qwen3.5-9B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.4 Mini	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $1 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

Open provider hubs

OpenAI catalog

Review all tracked OpenAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open OpenAI models

Qwen catalog

Check other Qwen models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Qwen models

GPT-5.4 Mini

GPT-5.4 mini brings the core capabilities of GPT-5.4 to a faster, more efficient model optimized for high-throughput workloads. It supports text and image inputs with strong performance across reasoning, coding,...

Qwen3.5-9B

Qwen3.5-9B is a multimodal foundation model from the Qwen3.5 family, designed to deliver strong reasoning, coding, and visual understanding in an efficient 9B-parameter architecture. It uses a unified vision-language design...