OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus
A side-by-side comparison of OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini ($0.88 / 1M tokens) and Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus ($1.14 / 1M tokens) using current USD prices and capabilities from the api14 catalog. Both run through the same OpenAI-compatible API.
Specifications
| OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini | Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Qwen |
| Input | $0.88 / 1M tokens | $1.14 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $7.00 / 1M tokens | $6.83 / 1M tokens |
| Cache read | $0.11 / 1M tokens | - |
| Web search | $35.00 / 1K searches | - |
| Cache write | - | $1.42 / 1M tokens |
| Context window | 400,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Max output | 128,000 | 65,536 |
| Input | image, text | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
| Tool calling | ||
| Structured output | ||
| Reasoning control | ||
| Added | Nov 13, 2025 | Apr 2, 2026 |
Key differences
- OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini is 23% cheaper on input tokens.
- Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus reads 2.5× more context (1,000,000 tokens).
- A request with 1,000 input and 500 output tokens costs $0.00438 with OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini and $0.00455 with Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus.
In depth
OpenAI: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini is made by OpenAI and is positioned as a text model with a coding-oriented name. Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus is made by Qwen and is also a text model. Both are served through api14 as chat-style models, so from a developer's point of view the main decision is which behaviour and limits fit the job rather than which platform they come from. The two were released at different times, with GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini arriving in November 2025 and Qwen3.6 Plus in April 2026.
The clearest split is context and input modalities. Qwen3.6 Plus has a larger context window, one million tokens against four hundred thousand for GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini, so it can hold substantially more material in a single request. Qwen3.6 Plus also accepts video as an input modality alongside text and images, while GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini accepts only text and images. On pricing, GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini is the cheaper option for input, while output pricing is about the same for both. Neither model is described as uniquely offering tools, structured outputs or reasoning, so those are not deciding factors here. The parameter lists do differ: GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini exposes reasoning_effort, verbosity and max_completion_tokens, whereas Qwen3.6 Plus exposes sampling controls such as temperature, top_p, top_k, frequency_penalty, presence_penalty, stop and logprobs.
For practical selection, reach for GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini when the task is code-centric and you want to keep input costs down, and when reasoning effort and verbosity controls are useful for tuning how much work the model does before answering. It is also the natural choice when your inputs are text and images and four hundred thousand tokens of context is enough. Choose Qwen3.6 Plus when you need the larger context window, when you are feeding video alongside text and images, or when you want fine-grained sampling control through temperature, top_p, top_k and the penalty parameters. If your pipeline depends on logprobs or top_logprobs, Qwen3.6 Plus is the one that exposes them.
Calling either model through api14 works the same way because the API is OpenAI-compatible. You point your client at the same base URL, send the same chat completions style request body, and change only the model id: use "openai/gpt-5.1-codex-mini" for the OpenAI model and "qwen/qwen3.6-plus" for the Qwen model. Everything else, including your authentication and the shape of the messages array, stays as it is. That makes it cheap to test both against your own workload and switch per request or per environment.
There are cases where the other model is still the better pick. If you have settled on GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini for cost and coding work but a request needs a very large document set or a video input, Qwen3.6 Plus covers that without changing your integration. Conversely, if you are using Qwen3.6 Plus for its context and sampling controls but a task is straightforward text and image work where input price matters, GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini is the cheaper input choice. Since output pricing is about the same, the input side and the modality and context limits are what should drive the decision.
Switch with one string
Both models use the same endpoint and request shape. Change the model value from "openai/gpt-5.1-codex-mini" to "qwen/qwen3.6-plus" and prompts, streaming and tools keep working.
import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({
baseURL: "https://api14.com/api/v1",
apiKey: process.env.API14_API_KEY,
});
const result = await client.chat.completions.create({
"model": "qwen/qwen3.6-plus",
"messages": [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Explain vector databases in two sentences."
}
]
});
console.log(result.choices[0].message.content);
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