Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | GPT-4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $1.3 | $2 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $7.8 | $8 |
Verdict. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins the overall benchmark matchup 1–0 across 1 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the mid-tier bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Qwen3.6 Max Preview is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Qwen3.6 Max Preview makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. Qwen3.6 Max Preview is strongest on Intelligence Index (41.1). GPT-4.1 leads on Intelligence Index (19.6).
Speed. On throughput, GPT-4.1 generates tokens at 168 tok/s versus 59 tok/s — about 65% faster. On time-to-first-token, GPT-4.1 responds in 910ms vs 3250ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. Alibaba and OpenAI sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: Alibaba tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while OpenAI often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $156.00 ($1872/year); GPT-4.1 costs $180.00 ($2160/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Qwen3.6 Max Preview ≈ $22.10/run, GPT-4.1 ≈ $26.00/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Qwen3.6 Max Preview ≈ $1040/run, GPT-4.1 ≈ $1200/run. Qwen3.6 Max Preview becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $2.92/M tokens vs $3.50/M for GPT-4.1.
Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins 1 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for GPT-4.1. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
GPT-4.1 generates tokens faster at 168 tok/s vs 59 tok/s. However, GPT-4.1 has lower time-to-first-token (0.91s vs 3.25s).
Choose based on your priorities: Qwen3.6 Max Preview for lower cost, Qwen3.6 Max Preview for stronger benchmark performance, and GPT-4.1 for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.