Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | GPT-4.1 mini | Qwen3.7 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.4 | $0.4 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $1.6 | $1.6 |
Verdict. Qwen3.7 Plus takes the aggregate benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 categories. Real workloads usually care about a handful of specific tasks — see the per-benchmark table above.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Qwen3.7 Plus is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Qwen3.7 Plus makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. GPT-4.1 mini is strongest on Coding Index (20.2), Intelligence Index (14.8). Qwen3.7 Plus leads on Coding Index (55.9), Intelligence Index (39.4).
Speed. On throughput, GPT-4.1 mini generates tokens at 79 tok/s versus 56 tok/s — about 29% faster. On time-to-first-token, GPT-4.1 mini responds in 930ms vs 2130ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. OpenAI and Alibaba sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: OpenAI tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Alibaba often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): GPT-4.1 mini costs $36.00 ($432/year); Qwen3.7 Plus costs $36.00 ($432/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): GPT-4.1 mini ≈ $5.20/run, Qwen3.7 Plus ≈ $5.20/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): GPT-4.1 mini ≈ $240/run, Qwen3.7 Plus ≈ $240/run.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.
Qwen3.7 Plus wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for GPT-4.1 mini. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
GPT-4.1 mini generates tokens faster at 79 tok/s vs 56 tok/s. GPT-4.1 mini also has lower time-to-first-token (0.93s vs 2.13s).
Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, Qwen3.7 Plus for stronger benchmark performance, and GPT-4.1 mini for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.