budget
Qwen Turbo vs Gpt 5 Mini
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | Qwen Turbo | Gpt 5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | dashscope | openai |
| Model ID | dashscope/qwen-turbo | gpt-5-mini |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.05 (80% cheaper) | $0.25 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $0.20 (90% cheaper) | $2.00 |
| Cached input / 1M | — | $0.02 |
| Context window | 129kk tokens | 272kk tokens |
| Max output | 16kk tokens | 128kk tokens |
| Vision | ⬜ | ✅ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ⬜ | ✅ |
| Web search | ⬜ | ✅ |
| JSON schema | ⬜ | ✅ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | Qwen Turbo | Gpt 5 Mini | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $0.09 | $0.65 | Qwen Turbo saves 86% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $0.90 | $6.50 | Qwen Turbo saves 86% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $9.00 | $65.00 | Qwen Turbo saves 86% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Qwen Turbo
$0.05/M
· 80% less than the other
Cheapest output
Qwen Turbo
$0.20/M
· 90% less than the other
Larger context
Gpt 5 Mini
272kk tokens · 111% larger window
More features
Gpt 5 Mini
5 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.02/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
Gpt 5 Mini
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$0.20/M output — 90% cheaper on output at scale
Qwen Turbo
Long-document processing & large codebases
272k context window vs 129k — 111% larger context
Gpt 5 Mini
Agentic workflows & tool use
Supports 5 of 5 tracked capabilities (vision, function calling, caching, web search, JSON schema)
Gpt 5 Mini
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.