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Head-to-head comparison

GPT-5.4 Nano vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

GPT-5.4 Nano (OpenAI) and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct (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 15 September 2026

As of 15 September 2026, GPT-5.4 Nano holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#80 vs #91); Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct is 4.5× cheaper per output token ($0.28/1M vs $1.25/1M); GPT-5.4 Nano offers the longer context window (400K vs 262K tokens); and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose GPT-5.4 Nano if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #80 against #91 (50.8 vs 48.5 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 400K tokens against 262K.
  • AA τ²-Bench Telecom is your yardstick — 76.0% against 34.5%.
  • AA Humanity's Last Exam is your yardstick — 28.3% against 3.8%.
  • you want the more recently listed model — GPT-5.4 Nano was listed 17 March 2026, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 31 July 2025.

Choose Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $0.28/1M output tokens against $1.25/1M, about 4.5× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.07/1M against $0.20/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct ships open weights while GPT-5.4 Nano is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 4 listed API providers against 2.

GPT-5.4 Nano vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of GPT-5.4 Nano and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
FieldGPT-5.4 NanoOpenAIQwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructQwen
ModelCap Index position#80#91
Index score50.848.5
EvidenceMeasuredEstimated
Input price / 1M tokens$0.20$0.07
Output price / 1M tokens$1.25$0.28
Context window400K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens128K236K
API providers listed24
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesFile, Image, TextText
First listed17 March 202631 July 2025
PublisherOpenAIQwen

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · publisher-corpus-prior over 193 held-out anchors (7%); launch card against 3 resolved peers on 4 rows (93%); no cross-lab optimism probe available; shrunk 0.1 up toward the measured corpus. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: GPT-5.4 Nano vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

Public benchmark boards where GPT-5.4 Nano or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a published result
BoardGPT-5.4 NanoQwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14601454–1466High—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation5.7%X-High—Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis21.2intelligence-index:v4.3:xhigh—Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis76.0%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="GPT-5.4 nano (xhigh)":reasoning=true34.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct":reasoning=falseGPT-5.4 Nano
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis28.3%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="GPT-5.4 nano (xhigh)":reasoning=true3.8%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct":reasoning=falseGPT-5.4 Nano

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-5.4 Nano vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: common questions

Is GPT-5.4 Nano better than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

GPT-5.4 Nano ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 15 September 2026: #80 against #91. 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-5.4 Nano cheaper than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $0.28/1M against $1.25/1M. Input tokens are $0.20/1M for GPT-5.4 Nano and $0.07/1M for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct. 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 $1.02 for GPT-5.4 Nano versus $0.28 for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct. Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs 72.7% 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-5.4 Nano or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

GPT-5.4 Nano has the larger context window: 400K tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.4 Nano or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

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-5.4 Nano and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct open-weight models?

GPT-5.4 Nano: API only. Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: 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-5.4 Nano and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for GPT-5.4 Nano and 4 for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this GPT-5.4 Nano vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 15 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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