GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs Qwen3.6 27B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI or Qwen3.6 27B (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-6 Astra (Max) scores 31.3 points higher (52.7 vs 21.4) but costs 4.6× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $1145; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 21.4, and Qwen3.6 27B (Reasoning) when 21.4 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Qwen3.6 27B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 52.7 | 21.4 | −59.4% Qwen3.6 27B (Reasonin… is 59.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $5,324.10 | $1,145.36 | −78.5% Qwen3.6 27B (Reasonin… is 78.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 328.93s | 111.40s | −66.1% Qwen3.6 27B (Reasonin… is 66.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.60 / $3.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.6 27B (Reasoning) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max): 59.4% less intelligence, 78.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 66.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- Qwen3.6 27B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-6 Astra (Max)Qwen3.6 27B (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-6-astra/qwen3-6-27b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-astra/qwen3-6-27b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill