GLM-5.1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview
GLM-5.1 comes out ahead, 57 to 54 and 51 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 235B-A22B is 43% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.1
57/100- ECI149.9
- Price$1.40 / $4.40
- Context200K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B
51/100- ECI139.4
- Price$0.70 / $2.80
- Context131K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
GLM-5.1 is our pick
GLM-5.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on price. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGLM-5.1Capabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.1 149.9 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4
- Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 · GLM-5.1 $2.15 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · GLM-5.1 200,000 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGLM-5.1: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
- Self-hostingGLM-5.1 and Qwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GLM-5.1 | Qwen3 235B-A22B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 78 | 65 | 77 |
| Price | 25% | 34 | 46 | 28 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 45 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 51/100 | 54/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GLM-5.1Z.ai (Zhipu) | Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 149.9 (best) | 139.4 | 149.2 |
| ECI rank | #51 of 148 (best) | #103 of 148 | #54 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.9% (best) | 70.7% | 87.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 36.8% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 93.3% (best) | — | 91.1% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 74.2% | — | 76.7% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 34.0% | — | 52.0% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.40 | $0.70 (best) | $1.30 |
| Output | $4.40 | $2.80 (best) | $7.80 |
| Cached input | $0.26 | — | $0.13 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.15 | $1.23 (best) | $2.92 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | glm-5.1 | qwen3-235b-a22b | qwen3.6-max-preview |
| API providers | 40 (best) | 7 | 10 |
| Released | Apr 7, 2026 | Apr 28, 2025 | Apr 20, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2025 | 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.
- GLM-5.1$22.80
- Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-5.1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
GLM-5.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on price. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, GLM-5.1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Qwen3 235B-A22B is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GLM-5.1 costs $1.40 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price); 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 $1.23 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B versus $2.15 for GLM-5.1 (1.8× as much) and $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (2.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
GLM-5.1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.1 149.9 (#51 of 148), Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148) and Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (148.0–151.6 vs 147.6–152.0), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.1 89.9%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GLM-5.1 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?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 200,000 for GLM-5.1 and 131,072 for Qwen3 235B-A22B. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.1 up to 131,072, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-5.1 accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
GLM-5.1 and Qwen3 235B-A22B 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. GLM-5.1 came out Apr 7, 2026; Qwen3 235B-A22B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, 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.
