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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Qwen3.6 Plus

Qwen3.6 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 53 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek R1 0528 is 17% cheaper per token.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek R1 0528

    Released May 28, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$0.512 / $2.19
    • Context164K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek R1 0528
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Plus

    Released Apr 2, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI147.8
    • Price$0.50 / $3.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Plus

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.6 Plus is our pick

Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek R1 0528 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.6 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Plus 147.8 · DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 · Qwen3.6 Plus $1.13 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 PlusDeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Qwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek R1 0528Qwen3.6 Plus
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6674
Price25%4945
Inputs & features15%3580
Context window10%2860
Overall100%53/10066/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Qwen3.6 Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeekQwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)141.2147.8 (best)
ECI rank#108 of 165#69 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions76.3%88.4% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—38.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics66.4%93.3% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—57.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—44.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.512$0.50 (best)
Output$2.19 (best)$3.00
Cached input—$0.05
Blended (3:1)$0.932 (best)$1.13
Long-context rateSame rateOver 256K: $2.00 / $6.00
Price sourceMedian of 16 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window163,840 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenMITProprietary
API model ID—qwen3.6-plus
API providers1622 (best)
ReleasedMay 28, 2025Apr 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
  • Qwen3.6 Plus$11.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek R1 0528 or Qwen3.6 Plus?

Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek R1 0528 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Qwen3.6 Plus?

DeepSeek R1 0528 is cheaper at $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.932 per million tokens for DeepSeek R1 0528 versus $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Plus (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Plus 147.8 (#69 of 165) and DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 (#108 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (145.8–149.6 vs 139.0–142.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Plus 88.4%, DeepSeek R1 0528 76.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Plus 93.3%, DeepSeek R1 0528 66.4%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek R1 0528 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.6 Plus leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Qwen3.6 Plus accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.6 Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek R1 0528 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Plus is the newest, released Apr 2, 2026. DeepSeek R1 0528 came out May 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Plus Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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