Compare / Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 vs GPT-5 nano

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 vs GPT-5 nano

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 14 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 Released 25 Jul 2025 · $0.30 in · $3.00 out
OpenAIGPT-5 nano Released 7 Aug 2025 · $0.050 in · $0.40 out
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 wins 11GPT-5 nano wins 3

Of the 14 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.

Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs OpenAI, every model from both labs.

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano? The short answer

They score about the same, so pick GPT-5 nano: it costs 7.1 times less per token.

  • GPT-5 nano is cheaper: $0.14 against $0.97 per million tokens, 7.1 times less.
  • They score about the same on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (12.7 and 13.0).
  • GPT-5 nano is newer: released 7 Aug 2025, against 25 Jul 2025 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 does better for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.

Head to head

12.7
Intelligence Index
13.0
$0.97
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$0.14
131,072
Context window, tokens
400,000

Every fact side by side

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507GPT-5 nano
Price per million tokens$0.30 in · $3.00 out$0.050 in · $0.40 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.97$0.14
Cheapest host, blended$0.75 (Alibaba)$0.14 (Azure)
Intelligence Index12.713.0
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window131,072 tokens400,000 tokens
Released25 Jul 20257 Aug 2025 (newer)
WeightsOpenClosed
Developer based inChinathe US

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 138 of 164 53 of 164
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 117 of 198 134 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 122 of 188 151 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 92 of 152 125 of 152

Every shared result

Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.

MeasureQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507GPT-5 nano
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 139 · 207 of 387 measured 1,400 1,338high reasoning
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 133 · 204 of 380 measured 1,404 1,339high reasoning
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 133 · 268 of 385 measured 1,371 1,247high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 147 · 144 of 243 measured 12.7 13.0high reasoning
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 114 · 162 of 231 measured 79.0% 67.6%high reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 122 · 160 of 242 measured 15.9% 9.5%high reasoning
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result
Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 44 · 72 of 76 measured 40.4% 11.7%high reasoning
Show all 14 results (7 more)
MeasureQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507GPT-5 nano
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 85 · 191 of 338 measured 1,466 1,354high reasoning
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 142 · 200 of 387 measured 1,385 1,327high reasoning
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 139 · 247 of 386 measured 1,377 1,289high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results
IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 101 · 64 of 195 measured 51.2% 67.6%high reasoning
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 99 · 162 of 233 measured 72.0% 45.0%high reasoning
Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 116 · 100 of 190 measured 13.6% 17.4%medium reasoning
τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 101 · 119 of 193 measured 53.2% 36.6%high reasoning

Quick answers

Is Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 better than GPT-5 nano?

They score about the same, so pick GPT-5 nano: it costs 7.1 times less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

GPT-5 nano is cheaper: $0.14 against $0.97 per million tokens, 7.1 times less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

GPT-5 nano ranks 53 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 138 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ranks 117 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 134 for GPT-5 nano.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ranks 122 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 151 for GPT-5 nano.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ranks 92 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 125 for GPT-5 nano.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or GPT-5 nano?

GPT-5 nano: 400,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Run Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 and GPT-5 nano on your own prompt

Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.