Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | GPT-5 mini (medium) | Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.25 | $0.25 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $2 | $2 |
Verdict. GPT-5 mini (medium) wins the overall benchmark matchup 1–0 across 1 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. GPT-5 mini (medium) is strongest on Intelligence Index (31.6). Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) leads on Intelligence Index (29.9).
Speed. On throughput, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) generates tokens at 152 tok/s versus 104 tok/s — about 31% faster. On time-to-first-token, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) responds in 2050ms vs 12790ms, 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-5 mini (medium) costs $37.50 ($450/year); Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) costs $37.50 ($450/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): GPT-5 mini (medium) ≈ $5.25/run, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) ≈ $5.25/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): GPT-5 mini (medium) ≈ $250/run, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) ≈ $250/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.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.
GPT-5 mini (medium) wins 1 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) generates tokens faster at 152 tok/s vs 104 tok/s. However, Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) has lower time-to-first-token (2.05s vs 12.79s).
Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, GPT-5 mini (medium) for stronger benchmark performance, and Qwen3.5 35B A3B (Reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.