o4 Mini vs Qwen3.5-9B
Complete pricing and performance comparison between OpenAI's o4 Mini and Alibaba's Qwen3.5-9B.
Quick Verdict
Cheaper
Qwen3.5-9B
22.0x cheaper input, 29.3x cheaper output
Larger Context
Qwen3.5-9B
262K vs 200K
Pricing Comparison
| Spec | o4 Mini | Qwen3.5-9B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba | |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.1 | $0.05 | Qwen3.5-9B is 95% more expensive |
| Output / 1M tokens | $4.4 | $0.15 | Qwen3.5-9B is 97% more expensive |
| Context Window | 200K | 262K | 1x difference |
| Max Output | 100K | 33K | |
| Tokenizer | o200k_base | cl100k_base |
Performance Benchmarks
| Metric | o4 Mini | Qwen3.5-9B | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Index | 33 | -- | N/A |
| Output Speed | 140 tok/s | -- | N/A |
| Value (Quality/$) | 30.1 | -- | Higher = better value |
Benchmark data from Artificial Analysis. Quality Index is a composite score across reasoning, coding, and knowledge tasks.
Cost at Scale
Estimated cost at different usage levels (3:1 input-to-output token ratio, typical for chat).
| Usage | o4 Mini | Qwen3.5-9B | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
Single request 1K in / 300 out | $0.0024 | $0.0001 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $0.0023 |
10 requests 10K in / 3K out | $0.024 | $0.0009 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $0.023 |
100 requests 100K in / 30K out | $0.242 | $0.0095 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $0.233 |
1,000 requests 1M in / 300K out | $2.42 | $0.095 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $2.32 |
10,000 requests 10M in / 3M out | $24.20 | $0.950 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $23.25 |
1M requests/mo 1B in / 300M out | $2420.00 | $95.00 | Qwen3.5-9B saves $2325.00 |
Pros & Cons
o4 Mini Strengths
- +Higher max output tokens
Qwen3.5-9B Strengths
- +Cheaper input tokens
- +Cheaper output tokens
- +Larger context window (262K vs 200K)
When to Use Each Model
Choose o4 Mini for
- →Generating long-form content or detailed code
Choose Qwen3.5-9B for
- →Budget-conscious projects where cost is the primary factor
- →Long documents, large codebases, or multi-turn conversations
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper, o4 Mini or Qwen3.5-9B?
For input tokens, Qwen3.5-9B is 22.0x cheaper at $0.05/1M tokens. For output tokens, Qwen3.5-9B is 29.3x cheaper at $0.15/1M tokens. At typical usage (1M input + 300K output), o4 Mini costs $2.42 vs Qwen3.5-9B at $0.095.
What's the context window difference?
o4 Mini supports 200K context (200,000 tokens), while Qwen3.5-9B supports 262K (262,144 tokens). Qwen3.5-9B can handle 1x more context in a single request.
Which model has better benchmarks?
When should I choose o4 Mini over Qwen3.5-9B?
Choose o4 Mini when you need: Higher max output tokens. Choose Qwen3.5-9B when you need: Cheaper input tokens, Cheaper output tokens, Larger context window (262K vs 200K).
How much would 10,000 API requests cost?
At 1K input + 300 output tokens per request (typical chat): o4 Mini = $24.20, Qwen3.5-9B = $0.950. At 10K input + 1K output per request (longer conversations): o4 Mini = $154.00, Qwen3.5-9B = $6.50.