Qwen Plus vs GPT-4.1
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
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 |
GPT-4.1
OpenAIUpdated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.
| Input | $2.00/M |
| Output | $8.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Production coding, API development, complex instructions |
| Benchmark | 80/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | GPT-4.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 55 | 80 | GPT-4.1 leads by 25pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 48 | 76 | GPT-4.1 leads by 28pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 58 | 82 | GPT-4.1 leads by 24pts |
| HumanEval | 78 | 94 | GPT-4.1 leads by 16pts |
| BigCodeBench | 40 | 68 | GPT-4.1 leads by 28pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Qwen Plus | GPT-4.1 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.05 | $0.31 | Qwen Plus saves $0.26 (84%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.38 | $2.30 | Qwen Plus saves $1.92 (83%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $1.90 | $11.50 | Qwen Plus saves $9.60 (83%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.10 | $0.55 | Qwen Plus saves $0.45 (82%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen Plus | 55 | $0.007/pt | Better value |
| GPT-4.1 | 80 | $0.063/pt | Higher cost per point |
Qwen Plus delivers the best value at $0.007 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Qwen Plus
- + Budget-friendly
- - Average performance
GPT-4.1
- + Latest GPT model
- + Strong across all benchmarks
- - Premium pricing
Verdict
Qwen Plus is cheaper at $0.400/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 55).
Choose Qwen Plus for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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