API cost decision in 10 seconds

GPT-5.4 Mini vs Qwen3 8B

Pick Qwen3 8B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.4 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T20:08:05Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3 8B 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 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.75 (91.7% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3 8B

Context-first pickGPT-5.4 Mini

Sample savings$2.7591.7%

10x traffic gap$27.5

GPT-5.4 Mini has more context, but Qwen3 8B saves $2.75 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $27.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3 8B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GPT-5.4 Mini	Qwen3 8B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3 8B	$6	$0.45
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3 8B	$5.25	$0.45
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3 8B	$23.25	$2.05

Cheaper input Qwen3 8B $0.75 vs $0.05 / 1M

Qwen3 8B is $0.7 cheaper per 1M input tokens (93.3% lower; 15x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3 8B $4.5 vs $0.4 / 1M

Qwen3 8B is $4.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (91.1% lower; 11.2x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.4 Mini 400K vs 131.07K

GPT-5.4 Mini has 268.93K more context (3.05x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3 8B $3 vs $0.25

Qwen3 8B is $2.75 cheaper on the standard workload (91.7% 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 8B 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 8B has the lower input price; Qwen3 8B has the lower output price; GPT-5.4 Mini offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3 8B 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 $0.25 for Qwen3 8B.

Best Fit

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

Choose Qwen3 8B 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 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.75 (91.7% lower).
Qwen3 8B is $2.75 cheaper on the standard workload (91.7% lower).
Qwen3 8B is $0.7 cheaper per 1M input tokens (93.3% lower; 15x difference).
Qwen3 8B is $4.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (91.1% lower; 11.2x difference).
GPT-5.4 Mini has 268.93K more context (3.05x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI)	Qwen3 8B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.75	$0.05
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$4.5	$0.4
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3	$0.25
Context Window	400K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-03-17	2025-04-28
Popularity	#31	#102

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3 8B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $2.75 (91.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3 8B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Qwen3 8B	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.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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OpenAI catalog

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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,...

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Qwen3-8B is a dense 8.2B parameter causal language model from the Qwen3 series, designed for both reasoning-heavy tasks and efficient dialogue. It supports seamless switching between "thinking" mode for math,...