API cost decision in 10 seconds

o3 Mini vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Pick Qwen3 235B A22B for lower cost; pick o3 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

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

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3 235B A22B for lower cost; pick o3 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 235B A22B is estimated at $1.36 vs $3.3 for o3 Mini, saving $1.94 (58.6% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3 235B A22B
Context-first picko3 Mini
Sample savings$1.9458.6%
10x traffic gap$19.35

o3 Mini has more context, but Qwen3 235B A22B saves $1.94 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $19.35. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3 235B A22B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter picko3 MiniQwen3 235B A22B
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputQwen3 235B A22B$7.7$3.19
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputQwen3 235B A22B$5.5$2.27
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputQwen3 235B A22B$23.1$9.55
Cheaper input Qwen3 235B A22B $1.1 vs $0.455 / 1M

Qwen3 235B A22B is $0.65 cheaper per 1M input tokens (58.6% lower; 2.42x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3 235B A22B $4.4 vs $1.82 / 1M

Qwen3 235B A22B is $2.58 cheaper per 1M output tokens (58.6% lower; 2.42x difference).

Larger context o3 Mini 200K vs 131.07K

o3 Mini has 68.93K more context (1.53x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3 235B A22B $3.3 vs $1.36

Qwen3 235B A22B is $1.94 cheaper on the standard workload (58.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
o3 Mini Calculating… Estimated API cost
Qwen3 235B A22B 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 235B A22B has the lower input price; Qwen3 235B A22B has the lower output price; o3 Mini offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3 235B A22B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3.3 for o3 Mini and $1.36 for Qwen3 235B A22B.

Best Fit

Choose o3 Mini when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Qwen3 235B A22B 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 235B A22B is estimated at $1.36 vs $3.3 for o3 Mini, saving $1.94 (58.6% lower).
  • Qwen3 235B A22B is $1.94 cheaper on the standard workload (58.6% lower).
  • Qwen3 235B A22B is $0.65 cheaper per 1M input tokens (58.6% lower; 2.42x difference).
  • Qwen3 235B A22B is $2.58 cheaper per 1M output tokens (58.6% lower; 2.42x difference).
  • o3 Mini has 68.93K more context (1.53x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
Featureo3 Mini
(OpenAI)		Qwen3 235B A22B
(Qwen)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$1.1$0.455
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$4.4$1.82
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$3.3$1.36
Context Window200K131.07K
Release Date
Popularity#120#131

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionQwen3 235B A22BOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 235B A22B is estimated at $1.36 vs $3.3 for o3 Mini, saving $1.94 (58.6% lower).
High-volume input processingQwen3 235B A22BLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsQwen3 235B A22BLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document worko3 MiniA 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 o3 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace o3 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b can replace o3 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
  • gpt-oss-120b can replace o3 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.

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
o3 Mini

OpenAI o3-mini is a cost-efficient language model optimized for STEM reasoning tasks, particularly excelling in science, mathematics, and coding. This model supports the `reasoning_effort` parameter, which can be set to...

Qwen3 235B A22B

Qwen3-235B-A22B is a 235B parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model developed by Qwen, activating 22B parameters per forward pass. It supports seamless switching between a "thinking" mode for complex reasoning, math, and...