OpenAI vs Alibaba (Qwen): models, pricing & how they compare

A side-by-side read on OpenAI and Alibaba (Qwen), anchored on each lab's flagship model, with API pricing, context windows, and their current Vikshy Score. For the full line-ups, see OpenAI models and Alibaba (Qwen) models.

OpenAI

85.3Frontier leader

Vikshy Score →

GPT-5.6 Sol Frontier

Context: 1M
Input /M: $5.00
Output /M: $30.00
Modality: Multimodal
Access: API + ChatGPT

Teams tackling the hardest agentic and coding work.

Alibaba (Qwen)

68.5Strong contender

Vikshy Score →

Qwen3-Max Flagship

Context: 256K
Input /M: $0.86
Output /M: $3.44
Modality: Text
Access: API

The hardest reasoning and long context workloads on Model Studio.

How they compare

On flagship API input price, Alibaba (Qwen) is cheaper ($0.86 vs $5.00 per million tokens).
OpenAI offers the larger flagship context window (1M vs 256K).
On the Vikshy Score, OpenAI ranks higher today (85.3 vs 68.5).

Flagship = each lab's highest-tier current model. Pricing and specs are the labs' listed figures; the Vikshy Score is a daily competitive reading, what is this?

OpenAI vs Alibaba (Qwen), common questions

Is OpenAI or Alibaba (Qwen) cheaper?

By flagship API input price, Alibaba (Qwen) is cheaper: $5.00 (OpenAI) vs $0.86 (Alibaba (Qwen)) per million input tokens.

Which has a larger context window, OpenAI or Alibaba (Qwen)?

OpenAI: its flagship handles up to 1M tokens, versus 256K for Alibaba (Qwen).

Which ranks higher on the Vikshy Score, OpenAI or Alibaba (Qwen)?

OpenAI, at 85.3 versus 68.5, as of 2026-07-24. The Score moves daily.