ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview vs Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B comes out ahead, 56 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Google

    Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview

    Released Apr 14, 2026

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.00 / $5.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

    Released Feb 15, 2026

    56/100
    • ECI146.7
    • Price$0.60 / $3.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is our pick

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview (50). It leads on price and context window. 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 397B-A17BQwen3.5 397B-A17B $1.35 · Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.5 397B-A17BQwen3.5 397B-A17B 262,144 · Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 397B-A17BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 PreviewQwen3.5 397B-A17B
Price50%3644
Inputs & features30%9090
Context window20%2437
Overall100%50/10056/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview vs Qwen3.5 397B-A17B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 PreviewGoogleQwen3.5 397B-A17BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—146.7
ECI rank—#67 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—86.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—31.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—88.9%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.00$0.60 (best)
Output$5.00$3.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$2.00$1.35 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesYes
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model ID—qwen3.5-397b-a17b
API providers123 (best)
ReleasedApr 14, 2026Feb 15, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 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.

  • Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview$20.00
  • Qwen3.5 397B-A17B$13.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview or Qwen3.5 397B-A17B?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview (50). It leads on price and context window. 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, Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview or Qwen3.5 397B-A17B?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is cheaper at $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.35 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 397B-A17B versus $2.00 for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B has an ECI of 146.7.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview. Maximum output per response: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview accepts text, images, audio and video; Qwen3.5 397B-A17B accepts text, images, audio and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview is the newest, released Apr 14, 2026. Qwen3.5 397B-A17B came out Feb 15, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview Jan 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

Related comparisons