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Head-to-head comparison

GPT-4o-mini vs Qwen3 32B

GPT-4o-mini (OpenAI) and Qwen3 32B (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 9 September 2026

As of 9 September 2026, GPT-4o-mini holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#117 vs #119); Qwen3 32B is 2.1× cheaper per output token ($0.28/1M vs $0.60/1M); Qwen3 32B offers the longer context window (131K vs 128K tokens); and Qwen3 32B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose GPT-4o-mini if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #117 against #119 (35.0 vs 34.0 points).

Choose Qwen3 32B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.28/1M output tokens against $0.60/1M, about 2.1× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.08/1M against $0.15/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 131K tokens against 128K.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 32B ships open weights while GPT-4o-mini is api only.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 32B was listed 28 April 2025, GPT-4o-mini 18 July 2024.

GPT-4o-mini vs Qwen3 32B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of GPT-4o-mini and Qwen3 32B
FieldGPT-4o-miniOpenAIQwen3 32BQwen
ModelCap Index position#117#119
Index score35.034.0
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.15$0.08
Output price / 1M tokens$0.60$0.28
Context window128K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens16K16K
API providers listed22
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileText
First listed18 July 202428 April 2025
PublisherOpenAIQwen

Evidence: publisher-corpus-prior over 182 held-out anchors (61%); 1 specialist-board observation at 2.1% support (40%); shrunk 22.1 up toward the measured corpus · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: GPT-4o-mini vs Qwen3 32B

Public benchmark boards where GPT-4o-mini or Qwen3 32B has a published result
BoardGPT-4o-miniQwen3 32BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14071383–1431Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation0.0%—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)—48.7Function callingOnly one result
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Artificial Analysis5.6%terminal-bench:2.1:terminus-2:e2b:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="GPT-4o mini":reasoning=false—Only one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis4.2%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="GPT-4o mini":reasoning=false—Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

GPT-4o-mini vs Qwen3 32B: common questions

Is GPT-4o-mini better than Qwen3 32B?

GPT-4o-mini ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 9 September 2026: #117 against #119. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is GPT-4o-mini cheaper than Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 32B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.28/1M against $0.60/1M. Input tokens are $0.15/1M for GPT-4o-mini and $0.08/1M for Qwen3 32B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.60 for GPT-4o-mini versus $0.30 for Qwen3 32B. Qwen3 32B costs 50.0% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, GPT-4o-mini or Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 32B has the larger context window: 131K tokens against 128K.

Which is better for coding, GPT-4o-mini or Qwen3 32B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are GPT-4o-mini and Qwen3 32B open-weight models?

GPT-4o-mini: API only. Qwen3 32B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run GPT-4o-mini and Qwen3 32B?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for GPT-4o-mini and 2 for Qwen3 32B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this GPT-4o-mini vs Qwen3 32B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 9 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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