GPT-4o vs Qwen Plus
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.
| Input | $2.50/M |
| Output | $10.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, multimodal tasks, chatbots |
| Benchmark | 75/100 |
Qwen Plus
QwenBalanced Qwen model for general tasks. Good price-performance ratio.
| Input | $0.400/M |
| Output | $1.20/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General-purpose tasks, bilingual coding |
| Benchmark | 55/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Qwen Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75 | 55 | GPT-4o leads by 20pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70 | 48 | GPT-4o leads by 22pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 78 | 58 | GPT-4o leads by 20pts |
| HumanEval | 90 | 78 | GPT-4o leads by 12pts |
| BigCodeBench | 62 | 40 | GPT-4o leads by 22pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | Qwen Plus | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.05 | Qwen Plus saves $0.36 (88%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $0.38 | Qwen Plus saves $2.68 (88%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $1.90 | Qwen Plus saves $13.41 (88%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.10 | Qwen Plus saves $0.68 (87%) |
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 | 75 | $0.033/pt | Higher cost per point |
| Qwen Plus | 55 | $0.007/pt | Better value |
Qwen Plus delivers the best value at $0.007 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4o
- + Strong general-purpose
- + Good multimodal
- - Less consistent on coding than Claude
Qwen Plus
- + Budget-friendly
- - Average performance
Verdict
Qwen Plus is cheaper at $0.400/M, but GPT-4o scores higher on benchmarks (75 vs 55).
Choose Qwen Plus for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4o when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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