GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) 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 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) scores 28.8 points higher (47.0 vs 18.2) but costs 3.9× as much to run the benchmark ($3465 vs $896; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 18.2, and Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) when 18.2 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 47.0 | 18.2 | −61.3% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 61.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,464.84 | $896.39 | −74.1% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 74.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 113.85s | 46.69s | −59.0% Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reas… is 59.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.38 / $2.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Max): 61.3% less intelligence, 74.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 59.0% 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.
- Qwen3.6 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 Sol (Max)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-sol/qwen3-6-35b-a3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-sol/qwen3-6-35b-a3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill