API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥GPT-5.5 vs Qwen3.5-9B

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T12:03:47Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T13:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 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 $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.89 (99.4% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-9B

Context-first pickGPT-5.5

Sample savings$19.8999.4%

10x traffic gap$198.85

GPT-5.5 has more context, but Qwen3.5-9B saves $19.89 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $198.85. 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-5.5	Qwen3.5-9B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3.5-9B	$40	$0.28
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$35	$0.19
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$155	$0.79

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

Qwen3.5-9B is $4.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.2% lower; 125x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5-9B $30 vs $0.15 / 1M

Qwen3.5-9B is $29.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.5% lower; 200x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.5 1.05M vs 262.14K

GPT-5.5 has 787.86K more context (4.01x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-9B $20 vs $0.11

Qwen3.5-9B is $19.89 cheaper on the standard workload (99.4% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GPT-5.5 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-5.5 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 $20 for GPT-5.5 and $0.11 for Qwen3.5-9B.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.5 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 $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.89 (99.4% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $19.89 cheaper on the standard workload (99.4% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $4.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.2% lower; 125x difference).
Qwen3.5-9B is $29.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.5% lower; 200x difference).
GPT-5.5 has 787.86K more context (4.01x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥GPT-5.5 (OpenAI)	Qwen3.5-9B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$5	$0.04
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$30	$0.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$20	$0.11
Context Window	1.05M	262.14K
Release Date	2026-04-24	2026-03-10
Popularity	#17

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 $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.89 (99.4% 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-5.5	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-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.5 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 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.

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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

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GPT-5.5

GPT-5.5 is OpenAI’s frontier model designed for complex professional workloads, building on GPT-5.4 with stronger reasoning, higher reliability, and improved token efficiency on hard tasks. It features a 1M+ token...

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...