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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview

GPT-5.6 Sol comes out ahead, 66 to 54 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.6 Max Preview is 2.7× cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5.6 Sol

    Released Jul 9, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI161.8
    • Price$4.00 / $20.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.6 Sol

  2. 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

GPT-5.6 Sol is our pick

GPT-5.6 Sol is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.6 SolCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.6 Sol 161.8 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 · GPT-5.6 Sol $8.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Sol 1,050,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Sol: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.6 SolQwen3.6 Max Preview
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%9377
Price25%728
Inputs & features15%8035
Context window10%6137
Overall100%66/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.6 SolOpenAIQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)161.8 (best)149.2
ECI rank#8 of 148 (best)#54 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions93.5% (best)87.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics89.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics100% (best)91.1%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—76.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions69.7% (best)52.0%
Price per million tokens
Input$4.00$1.30 (best)
Output$20.00$7.80 (best)
Cached input$0.40$0.13 (best)
Blended (3:1)$8.00$2.92 (best)
Long-context rateOver 272K: $8.00 / $30.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,050,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-5.6-solqwen3.6-max-preview
API providers40 (best)10
ReleasedJul 9, 2026Apr 20, 2026
Knowledge cutoffFeb 16, 2026Apr 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.

  • GPT-5.6 Sol$80.00
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

GPT-5.6 Sol is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is cheaper at $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.6 Sol costs $4.00 input / $20.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.92 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 Max Preview versus $8.00 for GPT-5.6 Sol (2.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.6 Sol scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.6 Sol 161.8 (#8 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (159.3–165.3 vs 147.6–152.0), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.6 Sol 93.5%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.6 Sol 100%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-5.6 Sol 69.7%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.6 Sol yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.6 Sol 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?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the largest context window at 1,050,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.6 Sol up to 128,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.6 Sol accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text. GPT-5.6 Sol handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5.6 Sol and Qwen3.6 Max Preview are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.6 Sol is the newest, released Jul 9, 2026. Qwen3.6 Max Preview came out Apr 20, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.6 Sol Feb 16, 2026, 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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