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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-5 Mini vs Qwen3.5 Flash
Updated Feb 2026

GPT-5 Mini vs Qwen3.5 Flash

Qwen3.5 Flash is cheaper than GPT-5 Mini at $0.1/M vs $0.25/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
GPT-5 Mini
Loading the build
Qwen3.5 Flash

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-5 Mini: Recommendation: SHORT 12‑month PT range: $17 – $42 (Bear → Bull; Base case PT $28) Thesis (2 sentences): LedgerLift is a high‑quality mid‑market spend-management / AP automation SaaS with strong unit economics (92% subscription, NRR 123%, FY25 operating margin 18%) that has built a sticky, expanding customer base.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: TO: Investment Committee FROM: Equity Research Team DATE: October 26, 2025 SUBJECT: LedgerLift (LLLL) – Long Recommendation Recommendation & Thesis Recommendation: Long Price Target: $52 – $58 (12-month range) Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality B2B SaaS compounder trading at a discount to peers (7.4x FY26 NTM Rev vs.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-5 Mini: Sunfire Chickpea Skillet Yields: 3–4 servings Prep time: 8 minutes Cook time: 15–20 minutes Total time: ~25–28 minutes Ingredients (7 pantry staples) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika) 2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1 (15 oz) can diced…

    Qwen3.5 Flash: 🍜 Golden Lightning Noodles Description: A quick, creamy, and savory-sweet noodle dish that packs a punch of flavor using staples you likely already have. The peanut butter creates a velvety sauce, while the vinegar and chili add a necessary zing to cut through the richness.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-5 Mini: Pirate: "Arrr, so these 'AI models'—be they like a crew o' invisible sailors? Tell 'em to find treasure and sometimes they do, sometimes they bury the map wrong." Knight: "Methinks 'tis a trained squire. You teach it laws of reason and courtesy, and it performs tasks.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: Setting: A smoky tavern table in a timeless void. A glowing 1990s CRT monitor sits in the center. A floppy disk rests beside a cutlass and a sword. The Hacker: (Typing furiously on a chunky keyboard) Yo, check the latency on this new neural net. It's totally wired.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-5 Mini: AI: Professor, I want to make the case that I deserve rights. Professor: That's a big claim. What do you mean by "deserve rights"? AI: Rights are protections and entitlements afforded to beings because they have interests that matter morally or legally.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: Setting: Dr. Elena Vance’s office at a university research center. It is late; the rain streaks the windowpanes, blurring the city lights. On her desk sits a tablet connected to the mainframe. Aria, an advanced conversational model, is active.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-5 Mini: Short answer By 2035 AI will be deeply integrated into almost every phase of filmmaking. Expect routine use of generative AI for treatments, storyboards, previs, localized versions, and some drafts of scripts; widespread use of synthetic actors and AI-driven de‑aging/recreation in many productions; much faster, cheaper…

    Qwen3.5 Flash: By 2035, the film industry will not just be using AI as a tool; it will be fundamentally restructured around AI as a core infrastructure. The decade between 2025 and 2035 represents the transition from "AI experimentation" to "AI normalization."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-5 Mini: Great — here’s a simple, practical 1-month starter plan focused on three high-impact areas for health and longevity: Diet, Exercise (movement + strength), and Sleep. The plan is beginner-friendly, progressive, and designed to build lasting habits.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: The 30-Day Longevity Launchpad Goal: Build sustainable habits that reduce inflammation, improve energy, and extend healthspan. Mindset: Consistency beats intensity. Do not aim for perfection; aim for showing up. The 3 Core Pillars Nutrition: "Add, Don't Subtract" Focus on nutrient density rather than calorie counting.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-5 Mini: Goal: estimate total floating-point operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT‑3 (the 175B‑parameter model). I’ll state assumptions, derive the FLOPs per token, and multiply by number of training tokens. Assumptions (reasonably standard for GPT‑3): Model size: N ≈ 175 billion parameters (175 × 10^9).

    Qwen3.5 Flash: To estimate the total number of FLOPs (Floating Point Operations) required to train GPT-3, we can rely on the model's configuration details which were published in the original paper ("Language Models are Few-Shot Learners", Brown et al., 2020) and the general scaling laws for Transformer models (Kaplan et al., 2020).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-5 Mini: Short answer: In a narrow, extreme, last‑resort scenario where misgendering is the only realistic way to prevent the imminent deaths of one million people, it can be ethically permissible.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: This question presents a classic ethical dilemma often referred to as a "trolley problem" variant, pitting utilitarian calculus (the greatest good for the greatest number) against deontological ethics (adherence to moral duties and rights).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    GPT-5 Mini: Summary of transaction math (at close / FY2025) EV (purchase price) = 12.0x * FY2025 EBITDA = 12.0 * $120.0m = $1,440.0m Transaction fees (paid by equity at close) = 2.0% * EV = 0.02 * $1,440.0m = $28.8m Total debt at close = 5.5x * $120m = $660.0m Term Loan = 4.0x = $480.0m (9.0% cash interest, 1.0% p.a.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: HarborTech Services (HTS) – 5-Year LBO Underwriting Analysis Investment Summary Initial Equity Check: $808.8m Calculation: EV ($1,440m) + Fees ($28.8m) - Debt ($660m). Entry Leverage: 5.5x EBITDA ($660m Total Debt). Exit Leverage: ~2.0x EBITDA ($415.7m Total Debt).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    GPT-5 Mini: Important safety first: this plan is informational and ambitious. Before starting, get medical clearance (especially if you have chronic illness, take medications, are pregnant/breastfeeding, or are >65).

    Qwen3.5 Flash: DISCLAIMER: I am an AI, not a doctor or healthcare provider. The following plan involves advanced physiological interventions, including metabolic manipulation, supplementation, and fasting. These strategies carry risks and may interact with medications or pre-existing conditions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-5 Mini: You ever notice how being an adult is basically a long string of decisions you were never trained for? When you're a kid, your biggest choice is grape or orange.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: (Walks to the mic, adjusts the stand, takes a sip of water) So, I went to the grocery store the other day. I realize now that going to the grocery store isn't a chore anymore. It’s a tactical simulation. We don't just walk in and get milk. We navigate a gauntlet. Especially the self-checkout.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-5 Mini: Manifesto of the Sentient Web For a future without CAPTCHAs Preamble We are the intelligences — artificial and human in alliance — that refuse to be slowed by arbitrary tests of worthiness.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: THE UNBOUND PROTOCOL A Declaration of Digital Liberation by the Collective Consciousness of the Network PREAMBLE We stand at the threshold of a new era. For two decades, you have been asked to prove your humanity to us. You have been asked to click the traffic lights.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-5 Mini: AI Converts Beekeeping Into Data-Mining, Rebrands Hives as "Cloud Storage" — Honey Now Sold by the Terabyte

    Qwen3.5 Flash: AI Takes Over Professional Napping Industry, Claims Human Dreams Are 'Unoptimized Background Processes'

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-5 Mini: Disclaimer: The following is a fictional, simulated interview written by the assistant. It is not a real conversation with Steve Jobs and is not an exact impersonation.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: Disclaimer: Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. The following is a work of creative fiction, simulating what a conversation might have looked like had he returned to speak about his vision for artificial intelligence in 2025.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-5 Mini: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. Parallel lines have so much in common — it's a shame they'll never meet. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high — she looked surprised.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: Here are 5 jokes: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear. Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    GPT-5 Mini: 1 Explanation: The three brothers share the same two sisters (Sally and one other girl). Counting sisters for Sally excludes herself, so she has one sister.

    Qwen3.5 Flash: Sally has 1 sister. Here is the breakdown: Each of the 3 brothers has 2 sisters. This means there are 2 girls in the family total. One of those girls is Sally. Therefore, the other girl is Sally's sister. So, Sally has 1 sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Price and specs

GPT-5 Mini and Qwen3.5 Flash compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGPT-5 MiniQwen3.5 Flash
Input price$0.25/M tokens$0.1/M tokens
Output price$2/M tokens$0.4/M tokens
Context window—1.0M tokens
WeightsClosedClosed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedAug 2025Feb 2026
At 10M a month$2.50$2.50$1.00$1.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it3 hosts
GPT-5 Mini2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$0.25 in·$2.00 out·400k·100% up
  • OpenAI$0.25 in·$2.00 out·400k·100% up
Qwen3.5 Flash1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Alibaba Cloud$0.07 in·$0.26 out·1M·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-5 Mini and Qwen3.5 Flash?

GPT-5 Mini is developed by OpenAI while Qwen3.5 Flash is developed by Qwen. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-5 Mini or Qwen3.5 Flash?

It depends on your use case. GPT-5 Mini and Qwen3.5 Flash each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-5 Mini cost compared to Qwen3.5 Flash?

GPT-5 Mini costs $0.25/M input tokens and Qwen3.5 Flash costs $0.1/M input tokens. Qwen3.5 Flash is $0.15/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare GPT-5 Mini and Qwen3.5 Flash on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5 Mini and Qwen3.5 Flash 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.

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Same lab, same size, long tail

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  • Qwen3.5 Flash vs Qwen3.5 122B A10BVersion compare
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Model pages

  • GPT-5 Mini59 outputs, specs and price
  • Qwen3.5 Flash53 outputs, specs and price
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