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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview

Qwen3.6 Max Preview comes out ahead, 54 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 2.5× cheaper per token.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Max Preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    54/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.30 / $7.80
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Max Preview

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is our pick

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.6 Max PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Qwen3.6 Max Preview
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6477
Price25%4728
Inputs & features15%3535
Context window10%2437
Overall100%51/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0149.2 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#54 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%87.4% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%91.1% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—76.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—52.0%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$1.30
Output$2.60 (best)$7.80
Cached input—$0.13
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$2.92
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3.6-max-preview
API providers12 (best)10
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 20, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Apr 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$12.20
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1 or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (2.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.6–152.0 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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 Max Preview has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Max Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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