GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) 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
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) scores 2.7 points higher (18.2 vs 15.5) but costs 39× as much to run the benchmark ($896 vs $23.0; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) when you need intelligence above 15.5, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when 15.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.5 | 18.2 | +17.4% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 17.4% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22.97 | $896.39 | +3802.4% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 39× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.06s | 46.08s | +810.7% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 810.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.38 / $2.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning): 17.4% more intelligence, 3802.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 810.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- 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-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-non-reasoning/qwen3-6-35b-a3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-non-reasoning/qwen3-6-35b-a3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill