GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) by OpenAI or Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) scores 20.2 points higher (38.4 vs 18.2) but costs 5.1× as much to run the benchmark ($4587 vs $896; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) when you need intelligence above 18.2, and Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) when 18.2 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 38.4 | 18.2 | −52.6% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 52.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $4,587.43 | $896.39 | −80.5% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 80.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 81.82s | 46.08s | −43.7% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 43.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $0.38 / $2.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.5 (Xhigh): 52.6% less intelligence, 80.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 43.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- 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.
GPT-5.5 (Xhigh)Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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