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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Qwen3.5 0.8B

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) comes out ahead, 66 to 57 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    xAI

    Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)

    Released Mar 9, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 0.8B

    Released Mar 2, 2026

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price—
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 0.8B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is our pick

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.5 0.8B (57). It leads on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 priceGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) $1.56 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Qwen3.5 0.8B unpriced
  • Longest contextGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Qwen3.5 0.8B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.5 0.8B: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 0.8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Qwen3.5 0.8B
Inputs & features60%7070
Context window40%6037
Overall100%66/10057/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. 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.

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Qwen3.5 0.8B specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)xAIQwen3.5 0.8BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.25—
Output$2.50—
Cached input$0.20—
Blended (3:1)$1.56—
Long-context rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00—
Price sourceOfficial xAI API—
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output30,000 tokens81,920 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDgrok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning—
API providers13 (best)1
ReleasedMar 9, 2026Mar 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)$17.50
  • Qwen3.5 0.8B—
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Qwen3.5 0.8B?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.5 0.8B (57). It leads on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Qwen3.5 0.8B?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) versus . Qwen3.5 0.8B has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 0.8B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Qwen3.5 0.8B 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?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 0.8B. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3.5 0.8B up to 81,920 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.5 0.8B accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 0.8B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the newest, released Mar 9, 2026. Qwen3.5 0.8B came out Mar 2, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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