GPT-5.5 vs Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct

Name: GPT-5.5
Author: OpenAI

GPT-5.5 (2026) and Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct (2024) are frontier reasoning models from OpenAI and Alibaba. GPT-5.5 ships a 1.05m-token context window, while Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On Google-Proof Q&A, GPT-5.5 leads by 55.2 pts. On pricing, GPT-5.5 ranges from $5 to $8/1M input tokens by tier; Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct costs $0.18/1M input tokens. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

GPT-5.5 fits 8x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct for tighter calls.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	GPT-5.5	Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct	How to read it
Best for	reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents	provider-routed production	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Coding, RAG, and Long context	Primary workload tags from local decision data.
Context window	1.05m	128k	Higher is better when prompts, retrieval chunks, or transcripts are large.
Cheapest output	$30/1M tokens	$0.54/1M tokens	Cheapest tracked provider route; verify your exact region and tier.
Provider routes	4 tracked	7 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	Google-Proof Q&A leader	4 shared	Visible benchmark lead is 55.2 points on Google-Proof Q&A.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose GPT-5.5 when...

GPT-5.5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on Google-Proof Q&A, ahead by 55.2 points.
GPT-5.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
GPT-5.5 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
Local decision data tags GPT-5.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Choose Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct when...

Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.54/1M tokens.
Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
Local decision data tags Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct for Coding, RAG, and Long context.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct

Requests / monthInput tokens / requestOutput tokens / request

GPT-5.5

$11,500

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenAI API 0-272K input tokens

Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct

$279

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Chutes AI

Estimated monthly gap: $11,221. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

GPT-5.5 -> Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct is $29.46/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.

Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct -> GPT-5.5

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
GPT-5.5 is $29.46/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
GPT-5.5 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.

Specs

Specification	GPT-5.5 OpenAI	Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct Alibaba
Released	2026-04-23	2024-06-07
Context window	1.05m	128k
Parameters	—	72.7B
Architecture	Decoder Only	Decoder Only
License	Proprietary	Apache 2.0OSI-approved
Openness	Proprietary	Open source
Weights	Not released	Available
Code	Unknown	Unknown
Commercial use	Commercial use: conditional	Commercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff	2025-12	-

Pricing and availability

Pricing attribute	GPT-5.5	Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct
Input price	0-272K input tokens $5/1M tokens Standard GPT-5.5 token pricing before the long-context surcharge threshold. 272K+ input tokens $8/1M tokens Long-context surcharge applies above 272K input tokens for the full session.	$0.18/1M tokens
Output price	0-272K input tokens $30/1M tokens Standard GPT-5.5 token pricing before the long-context surcharge threshold. 272K+ input tokens $36/1M tokens Long-context surcharge applies above 272K input tokens for the full session.	$0.54/1M tokens
Providers	OpenAI API OpenRouter Vercel AI Gateway AWS Bedrock	DeepInfra OpenRouter Fireworks AI Novita AI Chutes AI SiliconFlow

Capabilities

Capability	GPT-5.5	Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct
Vision	Yes	No
Multimodal	Yes	No
Reasoning	Yes	No
JSON / Tool use	Yes	No
Structured outputs	Yes	Yes
Code execution	Yes	No
IDE integration	No	No
Computer use	No	No
Parallel agents	No	No

Benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.5	Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct
Google-Proof Q&A	93.6	38.4
HumanEval	94.2	86.6
Chatbot Arena	1488.0	1270.0
Massive Multitask Language Understanding	92.4	88.2

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Model pages

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Last reviewed: 2026-06-30. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.

Both models

GPT-5.5 Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct