GLM-5.2 (Max) vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.2 (Max) by Z AI or Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GLM-5.2 (Max) scores 15.5 points higher (33.7 vs 18.2) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($2097 vs $896; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick GLM-5.2 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning).
| Metric | GLM-5.2 (Max) | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.7 | 18.2 | −46.0% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 46.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,097.29 | $896.39 | −57.3% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 57.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 28.14s | 47.02s | +67.1% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 67.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $0.38 / $2.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) vs GLM-5.2 (Max): 46.0% less intelligence, 57.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 67.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.2 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GLM-5.2 (Max)Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-2/qwen3-6-35b-a3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-2/qwen3-6-35b-a3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill