Is GPT-4o mini better than Qwen Turbo for coding?

GPT-4o mini scores 58 overall vs Qwen Turbo's 42. GPT-4o mini has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — GPT-4o mini costs $0.150/M input vs $0.080/M for Qwen Turbo.

Which is cheaper: GPT-4o mini or Qwen Turbo?

Qwen Turbo is cheaper per million input tokens at $0.08/M vs $0.15/M.

What is the price-performance ratio of GPT-4o mini vs Qwen Turbo?

Based on benchmark scores, GPT-4o mini costs $0.003 per score point while Qwen Turbo costs $0.002 per score point. Qwen Turbo offers better value.

GPT-4o mini vs Qwen Turbo

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

GPT-4o mini

OpenAI

Affordable small model. Fast and cost-effective for high-volume coding tasks.

Input	$0.150/M
Output	$0.600/M
Context	128K tokens
Best For	High-volume tasks, simple coding, cost-sensitive projects
Benchmark	58/100

Qwen Turbo

Qwen

Fastest and cheapest Qwen model. Good for high-volume tasks.

Input	$0.080/M
Output	$0.240/M
Context	1M tokens
Best For	High-volume tasks, simple coding
Benchmark	42/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.

Benchmark	GPT-4o mini	Qwen Turbo	Leader
Overall Score	58	42	GPT-4o Mini leads by 16pts
SWE-bench Verified	50	35	GPT-4o Mini leads by 15pts
LiveCodeBench	60	44	GPT-4o Mini leads by 16pts
HumanEval	78	65	GPT-4o Mini leads by 13pts
BigCodeBench	44	28	GPT-4o Mini leads by 16pts

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

Scenario	GPT-4o mini	Qwen Turbo	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.02	$0.01	Qwen Turbo saves $0.01 (59%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$0.18	$0.08	Qwen Turbo saves $0.11 (59%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$0.92	$0.38	Qwen Turbo saves $0.54 (59%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.05	$0.02	Qwen Turbo saves $0.03 (57%)

Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)

Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.

Model	Overall Score	Price per Score Point	Verdict
GPT-4o mini	58	$0.003/pt	Higher cost per point
Qwen Turbo	42	$0.002/pt	Better value

Qwen Turbo delivers the best value at $0.002 per score point.

Strengths & Weaknesses

GPT-4o mini

+ Very cheap
+ Fast responses
- Struggles with multi-step reasoning

Qwen Turbo

+ Cheapest option
+ Fast
- Basic coding only

Verdict

Qwen Turbo is cheaper at $0.080/M, but GPT-4o mini scores higher on benchmarks (58 vs 42).

Choose Qwen Turbo for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4o mini when performance matters most.

Compare with Other Models

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude Opus 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$23.29 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Anthropic

Previous generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Anthropic

Fast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.

$0.800/M input $4.00/M output ~$1.24 per medium feature

Claude 3 Opus

Anthropic

First generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$20.25 per medium feature

Claude 3 Sonnet

Anthropic

First generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.05 per medium feature