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o3-mini vs Qwen3.5 397B

Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.

o3-mini

56

VS

Qwen3.5 397B

64

2 categoriesvs1 categories

Verified leaderboard positions: o3-mini unranked · Qwen3.5 397B #15

Pick Qwen3.5 397B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o3-mini only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 200K context window.

Category Radar

Head-to-Head by Category

Category Breakdown

Coding

Qwen3.5 397B
49.3vs60.3

+11.0 difference

Knowledge

o3-mini
77.2vs65.2

+12.0 difference

Inst. Following

o3-mini
93.9vs92.6

+1.3 difference

Operational Comparison

o3-mini

Qwen3.5 397B

Price (per 1M tokens)

$1.1 / $4.4

$0.6 / $3.6

Speed

160 t/s

96 t/s

Latency (TTFT)

7.12s

2.44s

Context Window

200K

128K

Quick Verdict

Pick Qwen3.5 397B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o3-mini only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 200K context window.

Qwen3.5 397B is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 64 to 56. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Qwen3.5 397B's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 60.3 against 49.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 49.3% to 76.2%. o3-mini does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

o3-mini is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.10 input / $4.40 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.60 input / $3.60 output per 1M tokens for Qwen3.5 397B. o3-mini is the reasoning model in the pair, while Qwen3.5 397B is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. o3-mini gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for Qwen3.5 397B.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Frequently Asked Questions (4)

Which is better, o3-mini or Qwen3.5 397B?

Qwen3.5 397B is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 64 to 56. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 49.3% and 76.2%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, o3-mini or Qwen3.5 397B?

o3-mini has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.2 versus 65.2. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, o3-mini or Qwen3.5 397B?

Qwen3.5 397B has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 60.3 versus 49.3. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, o3-mini or Qwen3.5 397B?

o3-mini has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 93.9 versus 92.6. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: April 24, 2026

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