High-volume, cost-sensitive work
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini
GPT-4.1 Mini costs 10% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($0.70 against $0.78 per million tokens).
GPT-4.1 Mini vs Qwen3.8 27B: price, context and capabilities
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation. Choose Qwen3.8 27B for reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents) and the latest release.
In short
- GPT-4.1 Mini is 10% cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.775 / 1M tokens).
- GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
- Qwen3.8 27B is the newer model (Aug 14, 2026, against Apr 14, 2025).
- Only GPT-4.1 Mini offers batch api.
- Only Qwen3.8 27B offers reasoning.
Which should you choose?
Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.
Writing and code generation
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini
GPT-4.1 Mini charges $1.60 per million output tokens, against $2.50 for Qwen3.8 27B. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.
Reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents)
Choose Qwen3.8 27B
Qwen3.8 27B charges $0.09 per million cached input tokens, against $0.10 for GPT-4.1 Mini.
Latest release
Choose Qwen3.8 27B
Qwen3.8 27B is the newer release (Aug 14, 2026, against Apr 14, 2025 for GPT-4.1 Mini).
Monthly cost at three volumes
| Volume | GPT-4.1 Mini | Qwen3.8 27B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens | $0.80 | $0.83 | GPT-4.1 Mini, $0.02 less |
| Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens | $16.00 | $16.50 | GPT-4.1 Mini, $0.50 less |
| Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens | $360.00 | $350.00 | Qwen3.8 27B, $10.00 less |
Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.
Specifications side by side
| GPT-4.1 Mini | Qwen3.8 27B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) |
| Category | Language models | Language models |
| Status | Deprecated | Generally available |
| Headline price | $0.70 / 1M tokens | $0.775 / 1M tokens |
| Input | $0.40 / 1M tokens | $0.20 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $1.60 / 1M tokens | $2.50 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.10 / 1M tokens | $0.09 / 1M tokens |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 33k | 236k |
| Released | Apr 14, 2025 | Aug 14, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | June 2024 | No data |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Capabilities | Vision, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching |
| API model id | gpt-4.1-mini | qwen3.8-27b |
Benchmarks side by side
Leader in bold.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Mini | Qwen3.8 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench Hard | 7.6% | No data |
| GPQA Diamond | 66.4% | No data |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 5% | No data |
| IFBench (instruction following) | 38.3% | No data |
| τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) | 52.9% | No data |
| MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) | 58.7% | No data |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 44% | No data |
Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose GPT-4.1 Mini or Qwen3.8 27B?
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation. Choose Qwen3.8 27B for reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents) and the latest release.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 Mini or Qwen3.8 27B?
GPT-4.1 Mini is 10% cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.775 / 1M tokens).
Which has the larger context window, GPT-4.1 Mini or Qwen3.8 27B?
GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
What is the difference between GPT-4.1 Mini and Qwen3.8 27B?
GPT-4.1 Mini is made by OpenAI and Qwen3.8 27B by Alibaba Cloud (Qwen). GPT-4.1 Mini is 10% cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.775 / 1M tokens). GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M. Qwen3.8 27B is the newer model (Aug 14, 2026, against Apr 14, 2025). Only GPT-4.1 Mini offers batch api. Only Qwen3.8 27B offers reasoning.
How much do GPT-4.1 Mini and Qwen3.8 27B cost per month?
At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, GPT-4.1 Mini costs $16.00 and Qwen3.8 27B costs $16.50, at standard rates.
Which is newer, GPT-4.1 Mini or Qwen3.8 27B?
Qwen3.8 27B was released on Aug 14, 2026 and GPT-4.1 Mini on Apr 14, 2025.