Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Muse Spark 1.1
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73, Muse Spark 1.1 70, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini 3.6 Flash
73/100- ECI154.3
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B
51/100- ECI139.4
- Price$0.70 / $2.80
- Context131K
MetaMuse Spark 1.1
70/100- ECI154.3
- Price$1.25 / $4.25
- Context1.05M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.6 Flash for raw capability and Qwen3 235B-A22B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 · Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4
- Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 · Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 · Muse Spark 1.1 $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.1 1,048,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Muse Spark 1.1: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3 235B-A22B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 65 | 84 |
| Price | 25% | 42 | 46 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 35 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 24 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 51/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen) | Muse Spark 1.1Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.3 (best) | 139.4 | 154.3 |
| ECI rank | #34 of 148 (best) | #103 of 148 | #35 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.1% (best) | 70.7% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 59.0% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 94.2% | — | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | — | 57.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.75 | $0.70 (best) | $1.25 |
| Output | $3.75 | $2.80 (best) | $4.25 |
| Cached input | $0.075 (best) | — | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 | $1.23 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Alibaba API | Official Meta API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 16,384 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.6-flash | qwen3-235b-a22b | muse-spark-1.1 |
| API providers | 25 (best) | 7 | 13 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Apr 28, 2025 | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2026 | Apr 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
- Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
- Muse Spark 1.1$21.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Muse Spark 1.1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.6 Flash for raw capability and Qwen3 235B-A22B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Muse Spark 1.1?
Qwen3 235B-A22B is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.23 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.6 Flash (1.2× as much) and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.1 (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148), Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 (#35 of 148) and Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (152.6–156.3 vs 152.2–157.1), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash, Qwen3 235B-A22B and Muse Spark 1.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 131,072 for Qwen3 235B-A22B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Muse Spark 1.1 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; Muse Spark 1.1 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 235B-A22B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. Muse Spark 1.1 came out Jul 9, 2026; Qwen3 235B-A22B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026, Qwen3 235B-A22B 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.
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