API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewOpenAI GPT Mini Latest vs Qwen3.5-Flash

Pick Qwen3.5-Flash when budget and context both matter.

Page updated:  Data confirmed:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-Flash when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-Flash is estimated at $0.2 vs $3 for OpenAI GPT Mini Latest, saving $2.81 (93.5% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-Flash
Context-first pickQwen3.5-Flash
Sample savings$2.8193.5%
10x traffic gap$28.05

Qwen3.5-Flash is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $28.05. 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-Flash stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickOpenAI GPT Mini LatestQwen3.5-Flash
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputQwen3.5-Flash$6$0.46
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputQwen3.5-Flash$5.25$0.33
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputQwen3.5-Flash$23.25$1.36
Cheaper input Qwen3.5-Flash $0.75 vs $0.065 / 1M

Qwen3.5-Flash is $0.69 cheaper per 1M input tokens (91.3% lower; 11.5x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5-Flash $4.5 vs $0.26 / 1M

Qwen3.5-Flash is $4.24 cheaper per 1M output tokens (94.2% lower; 17.3x difference).

Larger context Qwen3.5-Flash 400K vs 1M

Qwen3.5-Flash has 600K more context (2.5x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-Flash $3 vs $0.2

Qwen3.5-Flash is $2.81 cheaper on the standard workload (93.5% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
OpenAI GPT Mini Latest Calculating… Estimated API cost
Qwen3.5-Flash 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-Flash has the lower input price; Qwen3.5-Flash has the lower output price; Qwen3.5-Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5-Flash is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3 for OpenAI GPT Mini Latest and $0.2 for Qwen3.5-Flash.

Best Fit

Choose OpenAI GPT Mini Latest when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Qwen3.5-Flash when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-Flash is estimated at $0.2 vs $3 for OpenAI GPT Mini Latest, saving $2.81 (93.5% lower).
  • Qwen3.5-Flash is $2.81 cheaper on the standard workload (93.5% lower).
  • Qwen3.5-Flash is $0.69 cheaper per 1M input tokens (91.3% lower; 11.5x difference).
  • Qwen3.5-Flash is $4.24 cheaper per 1M output tokens (94.2% lower; 17.3x difference).
  • Qwen3.5-Flash has 600K more context (2.5x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureNewOpenAI GPT Mini Latest
(OpenAI)		Qwen3.5-Flash
(Qwen)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$0.75$0.065
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$4.5$0.26
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$3$0.2
Context Window400K1M
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionQwen3.5-FlashOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-Flash is estimated at $0.2 vs $3 for OpenAI GPT Mini Latest, saving $2.81 (93.5% lower).
High-volume input processingQwen3.5-FlashLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsQwen3.5-FlashLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workQwen3.5-FlashA 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 OpenAI GPT Mini Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace OpenAI GPT Mini Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b can replace OpenAI GPT Mini Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
  • gpt-oss-120b can replace OpenAI GPT Mini Latest 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.

Cheaper alternatives

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

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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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OpenAI GPT Mini Latest

This model always redirects to the latest model in the OpenAI GPT Mini family.

Qwen3.5-Flash

The Qwen3.5 native vision-language Flash models are built on a hybrid architecture that integrates a linear attention mechanism with a sparse mixture-of-experts model, achieving higher inference efficiency. Compared to the...