GPT-5 vs Qwen3-72B
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 specs · Qwen3-72B specs- PriceGPT-5
GPT-5 publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while Qwen3-72B does not.
- Context windowGPT-5
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 128K, 3.1× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksGPT-5
GPT-5 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 91.4 vs 84.0.
- ModalitiesGPT-5
GPT-5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Qwen3-72B.
- OpennessQwen3-72B
Qwen3-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-5 is API-only.
On balance GPT-5 edges ahead, winning 4 of 5 categories against Qwen3-72B's 1. GPT-5 publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while Qwen3-72B does not. GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 128K, 3.1× the room for long documents and codebases.
GPT-5 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 91.4 vs 84.0. They differ in modality coverage, GPT-5 handles text, vision, audio while Qwen3-72B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Qwen3-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-5 is API-only.
GPT-5 is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Qwen3-72B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 is usually picked for coding llm and agents workloads, while Qwen3-72B sees more deployments in open source llm and commercial use llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | GPT-5 | Qwen3-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio | text |
| Context window | 400K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | $1.25 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $10.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-09 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
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$18.75 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$188 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$248 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).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- GPT-5$0.625
- Qwen3-72BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU91.484.0
- HumanEval96.2
- GPQA89.4
- SWE-bench Verified74.9
GPT-5 fits when…
- Unified model, reasoning routed automatically per query
- Excellent tool-use and JSON-mode discipline
- Strong agent performance on SWE-bench Verified
- Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 128K for Qwen3-72B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Qwen3-72B fits when…
- Apache-2.0 license
- Strongest open-weight on Chinese
- Strong multilingual coverage
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Consider GPT-5.5
OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.
Frequently asked
Is GPT-5 or Qwen3-72B 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 accepts 400K tokens vs 128K for Qwen3-72B.Is GPT-5 or Qwen3-72B better for coding?
Both GPT-5 and Qwen3-72B 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?
Qwen3-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). GPT-5 is API-only.When were GPT-5 and Qwen3-72B released?
GPT-5 was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Qwen3-72B was released by Alibaba on 2025-04-29.
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