GPT-5.4 Mini vs Qwen 3.7 Max
OpenAI · US | Alibaba · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user or fast, low-cost general tasks. Pick Qwen 3.7 Max for long-horizon agentic coding (swe-bench pro 60.6, terminal-bench 2.0 69.7) or 1m-token long-document and full-codebase analysis. On a tight budget at scale, GPT-5.4 Mini is the value pick.
GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI, US) and Qwen 3.7 Max (Alibaba, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. GPT-5.4 Mini is openAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Qwen 3.7 Max is alibaba's agent-first frontier model — a 1M-token context and long-horizon coding at about half the cost of US flagships. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: GPT-5.4 Mini is about 3.3× cheaper on input ($0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens vs $2.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
- ▸Context window: Qwen 3.7 Max holds 2.5× more — 1M (~1,500 pages) vs 400K (~600 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Qwen 3.7 Max is the newer model by about 2 months (released May 20, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | GPT-5.4 Mini | Qwen 3.7 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI (US) | Alibaba (China) |
| Released | March 17, 2026 | May 20, 2026 |
| Context window | 400K (~600 pages) | 1M (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens | $2.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | No — API only | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, image, code | text, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Free for every ChatGPT user
GPT-5.4 Mini
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed — and it runs cheaper at $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens.
Fast, low-cost general tasks
GPT-5.4 Mini
At $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Qwen 3.7 Max ($2.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Subagent capabilities
GPT-5.4 Mini
GPT-5.4 Mini lists subagent capabilities among its strengths; Qwen 3.7 Max does not.
Long-horizon agentic coding (SWE-Bench Pro 60.6, Terminal-Bench 2.0 69.7)
Qwen 3.7 Max
Its 1M window holds about 2.5× more than GPT-5.4 Mini's 400K in a single prompt.
1M-token long-document and full-codebase analysis
Qwen 3.7 Max
Alibaba's agent-first frontier model — a 1M-token context and long-horizon coding at about half the cost of US flagships — and it carries the larger 1M context.
MCP tool orchestration and multi-hour autonomous runs
Qwen 3.7 Max
Alibaba's agent-first frontier model — a 1M-token context and long-horizon coding at about half the cost of US flagships — and it is the newer of the two.
Lowest cost at scale
GPT-5.4 Mini
At $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Qwen 3.7 Max
Its 1M window is about 2.5× larger than GPT-5.4 Mini's 400K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
At $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Qwen 3.7 Max, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Qwen 3.7 Max
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is free for every chatgpt user
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is long-horizon agentic coding (swe-bench pro 60.6, terminal-bench 2.0 69.7)
→ Qwen 3.7 Max
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ GPT-5.4 Mini or Qwen 3.7 Max
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
GPT-5.4 Mini: where it fits
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for free for every ChatGPT user, fast, low-cost general tasks, subagent capabilities, and native multimodal reasoning.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than flagship models, and not for the hardest reasoning. At $0.75 in / $4.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Qwen 3.7 Max: where it fits
Alibaba's agent-first frontier model — a 1M-token context and long-horizon coding at about half the cost of US flagships. Released May 20, 2026 by Alibaba, it is built for long-horizon agentic coding (SWE-Bench Pro 60.6, Terminal-Bench 2.0 69.7), 1M-token long-document and full-codebase analysis, mCP tool orchestration and multi-hour autonomous runs, and frontier intelligence at roughly half the price of US flagships.
Its trade-offs: text-only — no vision input (the Plus variant adds images), closed-weight, API-only — no self-hosting, trails GPT-5.5 and Claude Opus on the hardest one-shot reasoning, and chinese-jurisdiction data-residency considerations. At $2.5 in / $7.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." GPT-5.4 Mini (US) and Qwen 3.7 Max (China) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. GPT-5.4 Mini is the cheaper option, which matters at volume. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both GPT-5.4 Mini and Qwen 3.7 Max without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.4 Mini or Qwen 3.7 Max better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, GPT-5.4 Mini leans toward free for every chatgpt user while Qwen 3.7 Max leans toward long-horizon agentic coding (swe-bench pro 60.6, terminal-bench 2.0 69.7), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Mini or Qwen 3.7 Max?
GPT-5.4 Mini is cheaper — $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens vs $2.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens, roughly 3.3× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen 3.7 Max — 1M vs 400K, about 2.5× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-5.4 Mini and Qwen 3.7 Max together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-5.4 Mini, Qwen 3.7 Max and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, GPT-5.4 Mini or Qwen 3.7 Max?
Qwen 3.7 Max — released May 20, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.4 Mini.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.