Compare / Qwen3.5-35B-A3B vs GPT-5 mini
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B vs GPT-5 mini
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 19 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Of the 19 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 13 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-13-2e2420e3c5cc). See also Alibaba vs OpenAI, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini? The short answer
They score about the same, so pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B: it costs 35% less per token.
- Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is cheaper: $0.45 against $0.69 per million tokens, 35% less.
- GPT-5 mini scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 20.6 against 19.3.
- Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is newer: released 24 Feb 2026, against 7 Aug 2025 for GPT-5 mini.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.5-35B-A3B does better for sticking to the facts; GPT-5 mini for reasoning and knowledge.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | GPT-5 mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.16 in · $1.30 out | $0.25 in · $2.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.45 | $0.69 |
| Cheapest host, blended | $0.25 (Darkbloom, FP4) | $0.69 (Azure) |
| Intelligence Index | 19.3 | 20.6 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| Released | 24 Feb 2026 (newer) | 7 Aug 2025 |
| Weights | Open | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the 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.
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.
| Measure | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | GPT-5 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 147 · 152 of 387 measured | 1,394 | 1,390high reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 129 · 138 of 163 measured | 1,407 | 1,394high reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 139 · 157 of 380 measured | 1,403 | 1,381high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 108 · 103 of 243 measured | 19.3 | 20.6medium reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 84 · 97 of 231 measured | 84.5% | 82.8%high reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 106 · 104 of 242 measured | 21.0% | 21.5%high reasoning |
| Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard reported by Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · 2 results | ||
| Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better 62 · 84 of 104 measured | 10.5% | 12.9% |
| Answer rate · Vectara% of documents, higher is better 31 · 17 of 104 measured | 99.8% | 99.9% |
Show all 19 results (11 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | GPT-5 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 163 · 181 of 385 measured | 1,342 | 1,324high reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 134 · 153 of 338 measured | 1,419 | 1,401high reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 140 · 158 of 387 measured | 1,386 | 1,373high reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 155 · 168 of 386 measured | 1,363 | 1,352high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 7 results | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 72 · 118 of 130 measured | 40.8%no reasoning | 3.7%high reasoning |
| τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 107 · 57 of 121 measured | 4.9%no reasoning | 15.5%high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 79 · 110 of 131 measured | 37.0no reasoning | 15.6high reasoning |
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 39 · 26 of 195 measured | 72.5% | 75.4%high reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 99 · 96 of 233 measured | 72.0% | 72.3%high reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 74 · 57 of 190 measured | 26.5% | 33.3%high reasoning |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 45 · 82 of 193 measured | 89.2% | 71.1%medium reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.5-35B-A3B better than GPT-5 mini?
They score about the same, so pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B: it costs 35% less per token.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is cheaper: $0.45 against $0.69 per million tokens, 35% less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini ranks 109 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 116 for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ranks 92 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 95 for GPT-5 mini.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ranks 108 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 119 for GPT-5 mini.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ranks 112 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 131 for GPT-5 mini.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini: 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.
Run Qwen3.5-35B-A3B and GPT-5 mini on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.