Command A Plus vs Qwen3.5 9B Base
Qwen3.5 9B Base comes out ahead, 50 to 35 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
CohereCommand A Plus
35/100- ECI—
- Price$2.50 / $10.00
- Context128K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 9B Base
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.807
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen3.5 9B Base is our pick
Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Command A Plus (35). It leads on price and context window. Command A Plus wins on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 · Command A Plus $4.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Command A Plus 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 9B BaseCommand A Plus: Text, Images · Qwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Command A Plus | Qwen3.5 9B Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 19 | 65 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 50/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Command A PlusCohere | Qwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.50 | $0.30 (best) |
| Output | $10.00 | $0.807 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $4.38 | $0.427 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Cohere API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | command-a-plus-05-2026 | — |
| API providers | 3 (best) | 1 |
| Released | May 20, 2026 | Feb 26, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 1, 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Command A Plus$45.00
- Qwen3.5 9B Base$4.61
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Command A Plus or Qwen3.5 9B Base?
Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Command A Plus (35). It leads on price and context window. Command A Plus wins on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Command A Plus or Qwen3.5 9B Base?
Qwen3.5 9B Base is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Command A Plus costs $2.50 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.427 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B Base versus $4.38 for Command A Plus (10× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Command A Plus has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Command A Plus and Qwen3.5 9B Base yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.5 9B Base has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Command A Plus. Maximum output per response: Command A Plus up to 64,000, Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Command A Plus accepts text and images; Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.5 9B Base handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Command A Plus is the newest, released May 20, 2026. Qwen3.5 9B Base came out Feb 26, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Command A Plus Apr 1, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
