Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) is cheaper than OpenAI Codex Mini at $0/M vs $1.5/M input tokens.
Pokémon battle screen you can actually click. One HTML file.
Which answer wins?
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
OpenAI Codex Mini: [Comedian walks onstage] Hey, everyone! Great to see you all tonight. I'm Jamie—if you thought that intro was enthusiastic, you should've seen me when I realized this place has Wi-Fi. Seriously, though, I love stand-up.
Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free): (Walks to mic, adjusts stand, takes a breath) I’ve come to a quiet realization about grocery shopping. We don’t go to stores anymore. We go to unpaid internships. I used to walk into a supermarket with a cart, buy my food, and leave. Now I walk in, grab a basket, and get handed a shift. No onboarding.
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
OpenAI Codex Mini: Sure—here are five jokes: I asked the librarian if books about paranoia were available. She whispered, "They're right behind you." Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing. I bought a boat because it was for sail. Don't trust stairs—they're always up to something.
Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free): Here are 5 jokes: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together. Why don’t eggs tell jokes? They’d crack each other up.
Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $1.5/M tokens | Free |
| Output price | $6/M tokens | Free |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | May 2025 | Mar 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $15.00 | $0 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
OpenAI Codex Mini is developed by OpenAI while Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) is developed by Qwen. OpenAI Codex Mini has a 200K token context window vs Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free)'s 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 10 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. OpenAI Codex Mini and Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 10 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.
OpenAI Codex Mini costs $1.5/M input tokens and Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) costs $0/M input tokens. Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) is $1.50/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.
This page shows a side-by-side comparison of OpenAI Codex Mini and Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free) across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.