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BenchLM

GPT-4.1 nano vs Qwen3.5 Flash

Updated September 29, 2026. Rank says Qwen3.5 Flash is ahead. Price, access, and your workload can each overturn that. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty.

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Decision reading

Qwen3.5 Flash has the higher public score, 45.47 versus 24.89, and the 90% score intervals do not overlap. 1 results are shared. Category rows resting on Estimated evidence or different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Model A
OpenAI logo

OpenAI

24.89/100

Estimated · Public rank #189

90% interval 19.1–30.6

Model B
Alibaba logo

Alibaba

45.47/100

Estimated · Public rank #100

90% interval 36.4–54.5

Shared results
1
GPT-4.1 nano only
3
Qwen3.5 Flash only
5
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8
Estimated: GPT-4.1 nano and Qwen3.5 FlashHow the comparison works

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

No workload recommendation clears the current evidence threshold.

Use the matched evidence, workload costs, and sourced specifications below instead of treating a point score as a universal answer.

Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Not enough matched evidence

    GPT-4.1 nano and Qwen3.5 Flash are scored on Estimated evidence for coding, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited
  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    GPT-4.1 nano and Qwen3.5 Flash are not ranked on the public lane for agentic, so no winner is named for agentic.

    Confidence: limited
  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    No clear pick

    The documented context windows are equal.

    Confidence: documented
  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    No clear pick

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates
  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    No clear pick

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: rate-fallback
  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    No clear pick

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

Which one for a specific job

Choose a job from the LLM Selector's task catalog to see the category row it rests on, under the same basis rules as the table below. A directional row stays directional; choosing a job never creates a winner.

The same task catalog as the LLM Selector. Each job names the evidence surface it rests on; nothing here adds a new score.

14.8GPT-4.1 nano26.5Qwen3.5 Flash

Directional only · BenchAlign v5.7

Qwen3.5 Flash scores higher, but at least one score rests on Estimated evidence or a different benchmark set. Directional only, no winner.

Coding scores combine specific tasks and setups. Match the editor, harness, and effort to your workflow.

Same basis rules as the category table below

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

2 categories rest on Estimated evidence or different evidence sets. Those rows remain visible for coverage context but do not name a winner.

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

Too few matched category axes support a radar. The ruled list below shows only shared benchmark results; positions use each benchmark’s normalized display scale when available.

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Math

    Normalized gap 5.2
    GPT-4.1 nano:1.034%
    Qwen3.5 Flash:6.207%
Bars run 0–100 on each benchmark’s normalized display scale

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row shows the public-lane category score for both models: the BenchAlign v5.7 lane for agentic, coding, and knowledge, and the weighted public rows elsewhere, with the same rank each model page reports. A row is like-for-like only when both scores rest on Supported evidence or the same weighted set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner.

Coding

Directional only
GPT-4.1 nano
14.8
Estimated · #137/143
Qwen3.5 Flash
26.5
Estimated · #103/143
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 0 vs 2 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Knowledge

Directional only
GPT-4.1 nano
25.2
Supported · #162/169
Qwen3.5 Flash
43.1
Estimated · #85/169
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 2 vs 2 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Agentic

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
Not ranked
Qwen3.5 Flash
Not ranked
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 0 vs 0 public rows
Reading
Not comparable

Reasoning

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
36.1
Unranked · 2 rankable rows
Qwen3.5 Flash
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
26.4
Unranked · 1 rankable row
Qwen3.5 Flash
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
Not ranked
Qwen3.5 Flash
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
34.6
#109/124
Qwen3.5 Flash
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano
25.4
Unranked · 1 rankable row
Qwen3.5 Flash
28.4
Unranked · 2 rankable rows
Basis
Provisional lane · 1 vs 2 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Ranks count the models scored in each category’s lane, so the agentic, coding, and knowledge denominators (BenchAlign v5.7) differ from the provisional-lane categories. Unranked scores sit on the provisional lane’s scale but never name a winner. Like-for-like rows within 0.5 points read as a practical tie.

Supported evidence per lane · bars run 0–100Methodology

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

GPT-4.1 nano
$0.0003
Fits in one request
Qwen3.5 Flash
$0.0003
Fits in one request

Modeled costs are equal

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

GPT-4.1 nano
$0.0062
Fits in one request
Qwen3.5 Flash
$0.0062
Fits in one request

Modeled costs are equal

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

GPT-4.1 nano
$0.026
Fits in one request
Cached input priced at the published list-input rate
Qwen3.5 Flash
$0.026
Fits in one request
Cached input priced at the published list-input rate

Modeled costs are equal

GPT-4.1 nano has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate. Qwen3.5 Flash has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Cached input falls back to the list input rate only where a cached rate is unpublished

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Context window

Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.

GPT-4.1 nano

1M

Qwen3.5 Flash

1M

API model ID

GPT-4.1 nano

Not sourced

Qwen3.5 Flash

Not sourced

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

GPT-4.1 nano

Not published

Qwen3.5 Flash

Not published

Documented inputs

GPT-4.1 nano

Not sourced

Qwen3.5 Flash

Not sourced

Documented outputs

GPT-4.1 nano

Not sourced

Qwen3.5 Flash

Not sourced

Provider availability

GPT-4.1 nano

Not sourced

Qwen3.5 Flash

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

GPT-4.1 nano

Non-Reasoning

Qwen3.5 Flash

Reasoning

Weight access

GPT-4.1 nano

Proprietary

Qwen3.5 Flash

Proprietary

License

GPT-4.1 nano

Proprietary

Qwen3.5 Flash

Proprietary

Release date

GPT-4.1 nano

2025-04-14

Qwen3.5 Flash

2026-03-04

If you already use one of these models

Deployment change
The models list different providers, so authentication, endpoint behavior, limits, and feature support may change.
Quality signal
Qwen3.5 Flash has the higher public score, 45.47 versus 24.89, and the 90% score intervals do not overlap.
Workload cost
Repository review: $0.0062 vs $0.0062. Cache-heavy agent loop: $0.026 vs $0.026.
Context tradeoff
Both models list 1M.
Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Questions

Which is better, GPT-4.1 nano or Qwen3.5 Flash?

Qwen3.5 Flash has the higher public score, 45.47 versus 24.89, and the 90% score intervals do not overlap. That is the clearest overall quality signal in the current public data.

Which is better for coding, GPT-4.1 nano or Qwen3.5 Flash?

Qwen3.5 Flash scores higher for coding on the public lane, 26.5 to 14.8. GPT-4.1 nano and Qwen3.5 Flash are scored on Estimated evidence for coding, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like. BenchLM does not name a winner for coding from a directional reading; read the shared benchmark rows directly and test the models on the same task set.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-4.1 nano or Qwen3.5 Flash?

GPT-4.1 nano and Qwen3.5 Flash are not ranked on the public lane for agentic tasks, so no winner is named for agentic tasks.

Which costs less, GPT-4.1 nano or Qwen3.5 Flash?

For the stated presets, chat costs $0.0003 on GPT-4.1 nano and $0.0003 on Qwen3.5 Flash; repository review costs $0.0062 and $0.0062; the cache-heavy agent loop costs $0.026 and $0.026. GPT-4.1 nano has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate. Qwen3.5 Flash has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-4.1 nano or Qwen3.5 Flash?

Both models list the same context window, 1M.

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence9 rows

Coding

  • LiveCodeBench (Vals)

    GPT-4.1 nano—
    Qwen3.5 Flash83.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench (Vals)

    GPT-4.1 nano—
    Qwen3.5 Flash64.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • MMLU

    GPT-4.1 nano80.1%
    Source
    Qwen3.5 Flash—

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA

    GPT-4.1 nano50.3%
    Source
    Qwen3.5 Flash—

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA Diamond (Vals)

    GPT-4.1 nano—
    Qwen3.5 Flash82.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MMLU-Pro (Vals)

    GPT-4.1 nano—
    Qwen3.5 Flash84.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Instruction following

  • IFEval

    GPT-4.1 nano83.2%
    Source
    Qwen3.5 Flash—

    Not directly comparable

Math

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Shared source
    GPT-4.1 nano1.034%
    Qwen3.5 Flash6.207%

    Qwen3.5 Flash leads this result

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)

    GPT-4.1 nano—
    Qwen3.5 Flash0.000%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

9 public results · 1 shared

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Last updated September 29, 2026