Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) comes out ahead, 68 to 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)
68/100- ECI152.0
- Price$1.25 / $2.50
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is our pick
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
- Lowest priceGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) $1.56 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 81 | 77 |
| Price | 25% | 41 | 28 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 54/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)xAI | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 152.0 (best) | 149.2 |
| ECI rank | #41 of 148 (best) | #54 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.3% (best) | 87.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 44.9% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 92.2% (best) | 91.1% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 76.7% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 30.2% | 52.0% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.25 (best) | $1.30 |
| Output | $2.50 (best) | $7.80 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | $0.13 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.56 (best) | $2.92 |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 30,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | grok-4.20-0309-reasoning | qwen3.6-max-preview |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 10 |
| Released | Mar 9, 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | 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.
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)$17.50
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI 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 $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) versus $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (1.9× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 (#41 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.3–154.4 vs 147.6–152.0), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 89.3%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 92.2%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 30.2%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 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?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text. Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) came out Mar 9, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
Related comparisons
- Add Kimi K2.6Three-way comparison
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI · ECI 151.1
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle · ECI 151.8
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs GLM-5.2Z.ai (Zhipu) · ECI 151.8
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI · ECI 148.8
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs GLM-5.1Z.ai (Zhipu) · ECI 149.9
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Grok 4.3xAI · ECI 149.2
