GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) by OpenAI or Qwen3.5 397B A17B (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
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) scores 28.6 points higher (47.0 vs 18.4) but costs 3.7× as much to run the benchmark ($3465 vs $941; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 18.4, and Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) when 18.4 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) | Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 47.0 | 18.4 | −60.9% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 60.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,464.84 | $940.97 | −72.8% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 72.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 113.85s | 65.15s | −42.8% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 42.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.60 / $3.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Max): 60.9% less intelligence, 72.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 42.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max)Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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