GPT-5.5 vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B

Name: GPT-5.5
Author: OpenAI

GPT-5.5 (2026) and Qwen3.5-397B-A17B (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from OpenAI and Alibaba. GPT-5.5 ships a 1.05m-token context window, while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B ships a 262k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, GPT-5.5 leads by 0.3 pts. On pricing, GPT-5.5 ranges from $5 to $8/1M input tokens by tier; Qwen3.5-397B-A17B costs $0.39/1M 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 4x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and Qwen3.5-397B-A17B for tighter calls.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	GPT-5.5	Qwen3.5-397B-A17B	How to read it
Best for	reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents	reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Primary workload tags from local decision data.
Context window	1.05m	262k	Higher is better when prompts, retrieval chunks, or transcripts are large.
Cheapest output	$30/1M tokens	$2.34/1M tokens	Cheapest tracked provider route; verify your exact region and tier.
Provider routes	4 tracked	4 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	MMLU PRO leader	6 shared	Visible benchmark lead is 0.3 points on MMLU PRO.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose GPT-5.5 when...

GPT-5.5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 0.3 points.
GPT-5.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
GPT-5.5 uniquely exposes Code execution in local model data.
Local decision data tags GPT-5.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Choose Qwen3.5-397B-A17B when...

Qwen3.5-397B-A17B holds a shared-benchmark lead on Instruction-Following Evaluation, ahead by 0.5 points.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.34/1M tokens.
Local decision data tags Qwen3.5-397B-A17B for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

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

Lower estimate Qwen3.5-397B-A17B

Requests / monthInput tokens / requestOutput tokens / request

GPT-5.5

$11,500

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

Qwen3.5-397B-A17B

$897

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Estimated monthly gap: $10,603. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

GPT-5.5 -> Qwen3.5-397B-A17B

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is $27.66/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Check replacement coverage for Code execution before moving production traffic.

Qwen3.5-397B-A17B -> GPT-5.5

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
GPT-5.5 is $27.66/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
GPT-5.5 adds Code execution in local capability data.

Specs

Specification	GPT-5.5 OpenAI	Qwen3.5-397B-A17B Alibaba
Released	2026-04-23	2026-02-16
Context window	1.05m	262k
Parameters	—	397B
Architecture	Decoder Only	Mixture of Experts
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	Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
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.	$0.39/1M 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.	$2.34/1M tokens
Providers	OpenAI API OpenRouter Vercel AI Gateway AWS Bedrock	OpenRouter Together AI Alibaba Cloud PAI-EAS Novita AI

Capabilities

Capability	GPT-5.5	Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
Vision	Yes	Yes
Multimodal	Yes	Yes
Reasoning	Yes	Yes
JSON / Tool use	Yes	Yes
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	Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
MMLU PRO	88.1	87.8
SWE-bench Verified	82.6	76.2
Google-Proof Q&A	93.6	89.3
Humanity's Last Exam	41.4	28.7
Terminal-Bench 2.0	82.7	52.5
Instruction-Following Evaluation	92.1	92.6

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Model pages

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Last reviewed: 2026-06-29. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.

Both models

GPT-5.5 Qwen3.5-397B-A17B