GPT-5 mini (High) vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Which is better for the money: GPT-5 mini (High) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8-Flash-Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next scores 23.0 points higher (39.8 vs 16.8) but costs 1.9× as much to run the benchmark ($363 vs $189; both mid-range class). Pick Qwen3.8-Flash-Next when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5 mini (High).
| Metric | GPT-5 mini (High) | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.8 | 39.8 | +136.9% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 2.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $188.66 | $362.72 | +92.3% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 92.3% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 58.74s | 50.49s | −14.0% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 14.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $2.00 | $0.15 / $0.47 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next vs GPT-5 mini (High): 136.9% more intelligence, 92.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 14.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5 mini (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
GPT-5 mini (High)Qwen3.8-Flash-NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/qwen3-8-flash-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/qwen3-8-flash-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill