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GPT-5 nano vs Qwen2-VL-72B

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

GPT-5 nano specs · Qwen2-VL-72B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-5 nano

    GPT-5 nano publishes pricing ($0.40 / 1M output tokens) while Qwen2-VL-72B does not.

  • Context windowGPT-5 nano

    GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 128K, 3.1× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text, vision.

  • OpennessQwen2-VL-72B

    Qwen2-VL-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-5 nano is API-only.

On balance GPT-5 nano edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Qwen2-VL-72B's 1. GPT-5 nano publishes pricing ($0.40 / 1M output tokens) while Qwen2-VL-72B does not. GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 128K, 3.1× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Qwen2-VL-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-5 nano is API-only.

GPT-5 nano is the newer of the two, released 11 months after Qwen2-VL-72B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 nano is usually picked for cheapest llm and fastest llm workloads, while Qwen2-VL-72B sees more deployments in vision and ocr. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGPT-5 nanoQwen2-VL-72B
ProviderOpenAIAlibaba
ReleasedAug 2025Aug 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Context window400K tokens128K tokens
Max output128K tokens,
Input · 1M$0.050 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$0.40 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2024-09,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$0.750 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$7.50 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$9.90 vs ,

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GPT-5 nano$0.025
  • Qwen2-VL-72BPricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick GPT-5 nano if

GPT-5 nano fits when…

  • Lowest-cost OpenAI model with vision support
  • Fast P99 latency
  • Good enough for routing and classification
  • Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 128K for Qwen2-VL-72B.
Pick Qwen2-VL-72B if

Qwen2-VL-72B fits when…

  • Top open vision-language model
  • Apache-2.0
  • Strong on documents
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Don't want either?

Consider GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-5 nano vs GPT-5.5Qwen2-VL-72B vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-5 nano or Qwen2-VL-72B cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 128K for Qwen2-VL-72B.
  • Is GPT-5 nano or Qwen2-VL-72B better for coding?
    Both GPT-5 nano and Qwen2-VL-72B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Qwen2-VL-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). GPT-5 nano is API-only.
  • When were GPT-5 nano and Qwen2-VL-72B released?
    GPT-5 nano was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Qwen2-VL-72B was released by Alibaba on 2024-08-29.
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