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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. OpenAI: o3 Mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

OpenAI: o3 Mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is more budget-friendly at $1/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose OpenAI: o3 Mini if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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OpenAI
OpenAI: o3 Mini

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (openai/o3-mini). Preview until a second source matches.

o3-miniElo 1,560$4.4/1M out
Alibaba
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b). Preview until a second source matches.

$1/1M out

OpenAI o-Series Family & Variants (2)

Speed, cost, and intelligence tradeoffs across the OpenAI lineup

vs Base Model
OpenAI: o3 Mini
OpenAI
o3-mini
Reasoning
Elo1560
Speed92 t/s
In /1M$1.1
Out /1M$4.4
+48 Elo-93% price2.0x speed
Selected
OpenAI: o1
OpenAI
Base Model
Reasoning
Elo1512
Speed45 t/s
In /1M$15
Out /1M$60
View specs →vs this

OpenAI: o3 Mini Thinking Depth & Cost Scaler

Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost

Mode: Medium (Standard)

Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.

Thinking Delay
290 ms
Standard speed
Reasoning Depth
~1,500
Internal tokens
Cost / 1k Calls
$8.47
4.5× standard bill
Accuracy Boost
+4.5% accuracy
STEM & SWE-bench
Top Rival Showdowns for OpenAI: o3 Mini
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Provs Qwen 3 Max
Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar Leader

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

$1 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Dimensional AdvantageOpenAI: o3 Mini 4/6
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

OpenAI: o3 Mini (7)vsQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (3)
OpenAI: o3 Mini: 7W (70%)Overall: OpenAI: o3 MiniQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 3W (30%)
← OpenAI: o3 MiniQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B →
OpenAI: o3 Mini (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo
1,560vs—
Coding Elo
1,585vs—
SWE-bench
78.5%vs—
LiveBench
72.4%vs—
GPQA Diamond
87.2%vs—
OpenAI: o3 Mini: 5WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 0W
OpenAI: o3 Mini (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed
92 tok/svs—
Time to first token
290 msvs—
OpenAI: o3 Mini: 2WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 0W
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price
$4.4/1Mvs$1/1M
Input price
$1.1/1Mvs$0.14/1M
Context window
200kvs262k
OpenAI: o3 Mini: 0WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 3W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo
OpenAI: o3 Mini1,560
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
Coding Elo
OpenAI: o3 Mini1,585
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
LiveBench
OpenAI: o3 Mini72.4%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
SWE-bench
OpenAI: o3 Mini78.5%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
GPQA Diamond
OpenAI: o3 Mini87.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
Time to first token
OpenAI: o3 Mini290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
Output speed
OpenAI: o3 Mini92 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—
Input priceQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+$0.96/1M)
OpenAI: o3 Mini$1.1/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$0.14/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Output priceQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+$3.4/1M)
OpenAI: o3 Mini$4.4/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$1/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Context windowQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+62k)
OpenAI: o3 Mini200k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B262k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
BenchmarkOpenAI: o3 MiniQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3BAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,560
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
——
Coding Elo
1,585
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
——
LiveBench
72.4%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
——
SWE-bench
78.5%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
——
GPQA Diamond
87.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Time to first token
290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Output speed
92 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Input price
$1.1/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$0.14/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+$0.96/1M)
Output price
$4.4/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$1/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+$3.4/1M)
Context window
200k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
262k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (+62k)
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 81% with Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
OpenAI: o3 Mini$104.50 / mo
In: $38.5Out: $66
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$19.90 / mo
In: $4.9Out: $15
Estimated Cost Delta

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is estimated to save $84.60/month ($1,015/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B:Pick Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B when you are optimizing output cost.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Lower output list price ($1/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Larger window (262k).

Screenshots / visionQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsinsufficient dataNeed SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chatQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3BLower output list price ($1/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient dataNeed TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3BLarger window (262k).
Screenshots / visionQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3BQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM Matrix

Verified head-to-head card

LIVE
VS
OpenAI

OpenAI: o3 Mini

Elo 1,560
LiveBench72.4%
SWE-bench78.5%
Speed92 tok/s
Output cost$4.4/1M
Alibaba

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Elo n/a
LiveBench—
SWE-bench—
Speed—
Output cost$1/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, OpenAI: o3 Mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, OpenAI: o3 Mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B output tokens are $1/1M versus $4.4/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, OpenAI: o3 Mini or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?
Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B accepts 262k tokens versus 200k.
Can I self-host either model?
Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. OpenAI: o3 Mini and Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All OpenAI: o3 Mini matchups →|All Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B matchups →
OpenAI: o3 Mini vs OpenAI o1-mini (previous gpt-mini)OpenAI: o3 Mini vs GPT-5 mini (next gpt-mini)GPT-5 vs OpenAI: o3 MiniGPT-5.6 Terra vs OpenAI: o3 MiniGPT-4.5 Orion vs OpenAI: o3 MiniQwen 3 Max vs OpenAI: o3 Mini