GPT-6 Astra (medium) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Astra (medium) by OpenAI or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-09.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Astra (medium) scores 39.6 points higher (49.7 vs 10.1) but costs 5.1× as much to run the benchmark ($2434 vs $476; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (medium) when you need intelligence above 10.1, and Qwen3 Coder Next when 10.1 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Astra (medium) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.7 | 10.1 | −79.7% Qwen3 Coder Next is 79.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,434.12 | $476.03 | −80.4% Qwen3 Coder Next is 80.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.81s | 5.52s | −65.1% Qwen3 Coder Next is 65.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs GPT-6 Astra (medium): 79.7% less intelligence, 80.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 65.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Astra (medium) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
GPT-6 Astra (medium)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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