GPT-5.5 (medium) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (medium) by OpenAI or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-08-19.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 (medium) scores 30.1 points higher (51.4 vs 21.3) but costs 3.8× as much to run the benchmark ($939 vs $250; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 (medium) when you need intelligence above 21.3, and Qwen3 Coder Next when 21.3 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (medium) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.4 | 21.3 | −58.6% Qwen3 Coder Next is 58.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $939.07 | $250.18 | −73.4% Qwen3 Coder Next is 73.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 13.24s | 4.97s | −62.5% Qwen3 Coder Next is 62.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs GPT-5.5 (medium): 58.6% less intelligence, 73.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 62.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Muse Spark 1.2 (xhigh) scores 56.80 for $639.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (max) scores 52.30 for $172.
GPT-5.5 (medium)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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