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Head-to-head comparison

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

o4 Mini (OpenAI) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (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 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#55 vs #57); Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is cheaper per output token ($4.00/1M vs $4.40/1M); o4 Mini offers the longer context window (200K vs 131K tokens); and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose o4 Mini if…

  • you need the longer context window — 200K tokens against 131K.

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #55 against #57 (46.3 vs 43.5 points).
  • API cost matters — $4.00/1M output tokens against $4.40/1M.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.40/1M against $1.10/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ships open weights while o4 Mini is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1455 against 1433.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking was listed 23 September 2025, o4 Mini 16 April 2025.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of o4 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Fieldo4 MiniOpenAIQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen
ModelCap Index position#57#55
Index score43.546.3
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.10$0.40
Output price / 1M tokens$4.40$4.00
Context window200K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens100K33K
API providers listed12
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesImage, Text, FileText, Image
First listed16 April 202523 September 2025
PublisherOpenAIQwen

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: o4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

Public benchmark boards where o4 Mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has a published result
Boardo4 MiniQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14331426–144014551441–1469Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation6.1%High—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis26.1intelligence-index—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.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: common questions

Is o4 Mini better than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #55 against #57. 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.

Is o4 Mini cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is cheaper on output tokens: $4.00/1M against $4.40/1M. Input tokens are $1.10/1M for o4 Mini and $0.40/1M for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, o4 Mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

o4 Mini has the larger context window: 200K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, o4 Mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Arena coding: o4 Mini 1433, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 1455 — Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking leads.

Are o4 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking open-weight models?

o4 Mini: API only. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: 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 o4 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for o4 Mini and 2 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this o4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 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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