GLM-5.1 vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B comes out ahead, 68 to 57 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.1
57/100- ECI149.9
- Price$1.40 / $4.40
- Context200K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
68/100- ECI143.9
- Price$0.248 / $1.49
- Context262K
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Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is our pick
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GLM-5.1 (57). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. GLM-5.1 wins on capability. 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 35B-A3B 143.9
- Lowest priceQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · GLM-5.1 $2.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 · GLM-5.1 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 35B-A3BGLM-5.1: Text · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | GLM-5.1 | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 78 | 70 |
| Price | 25% | 34 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 45 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 68/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GLM-5.1Z.ai (Zhipu) | Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 149.9 (best) | 143.9 |
| ECI rank | #51 of 148 (best) | #83 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.9% (best) | 84.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 36.8% (best) | 20.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 93.3% (best) | 86.7% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 74.2% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 34.0% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.40 | $0.248 (best) |
| Output | $4.40 | $1.49 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.26 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.15 | $0.557 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| API model ID | glm-5.1 | qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
| API providers | 40 (best) | 34 |
| Released | Apr 7, 2026 | Apr 17, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
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
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-5.1 or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GLM-5.1 (57). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. GLM-5.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, GLM-5.1 or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.248 input / $1.49 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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.557 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B versus $2.15 for GLM-5.1 (3.9× 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) and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (148.0–151.6 vs 141.2–146.0), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.1 89.9%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 84.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GLM-5.1 36.8%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 20.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.1 93.3%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 86.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 200,000 for GLM-5.1. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.1 up to 131,072, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-5.1 accepts text; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. GLM-5.1 came out Apr 7, 2026.
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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