GPT-5.5 (High) vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (High) by OpenAI or Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 (High) scores 18.6 points higher (37.0 vs 18.4) but costs 3.4× as much to run the benchmark ($3181 vs $941; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 (High) when you need intelligence above 18.4, and Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) when 18.4 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (High) | Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 37.0 | 18.4 | −50.3% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 50.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,181.05 | $940.97 | −70.4% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 70.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 39.78s | 65.86s | +65.6% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 65.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $0.60 / $3.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.5 (High): 50.3% less intelligence, 70.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 65.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GPT-5.5 (High)Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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