Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B vs Qwen3.6 27B vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Qwen3.6 27B comes out ahead, 56 to 51 and 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Coder Next is 3× cheaper per token.
NVIDIANemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
50/100- ECI146.2
- Price$0.50 / $2.50
- Context1M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 27B
56/100- ECI146.5
- Price$0.60 / $3.60
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 Coder Next
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.20
- Context262K
Qwen3.6 27B is our pick
Qwen3.6 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3 Coder Next (51) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. Qwen3 Coder Next wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. 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 priceQwen3 Coder NextQwen3 Coder Next $0.45 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B $1.00 · Qwen3.6 27B $1.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 · Qwen3 Coder Next 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 27BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B: Text · Qwen3.6 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Qwen3 Coder Next: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 50 | 44 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 90 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 56/100 | 51/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNVIDIA | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 Coder NextAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.2 | 146.5 (best) | — |
| ECI rank | #70 of 148 | #68 of 148 (best) | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 85.4% | 85.9% (best) | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 35.1% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 86.7% | 91.1% (best) | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 | $0.60 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $2.50 | $3.60 | $1.20 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.15 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | $1.35 | $0.45 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Nvidia API | Official Alibaba API | Median of 11 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b | qwen3.6-27b | — |
| API providers | 21 | 27 (best) | 11 |
| Released | Jun 4, 2026 | Apr 22, 2026 | Feb 3, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | Sep 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B$10.00
- Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
- Qwen3 Coder Next$4.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B, Qwen3.6 27B or Qwen3 Coder Next?
Qwen3.6 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3 Coder Next (51) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. Qwen3 Coder Next wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B, Qwen3.6 27B or Qwen3 Coder Next?
Qwen3 Coder Next is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B costs $0.50 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price); Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.45 per million tokens for Qwen3 Coder Next versus $1.00 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (2.2× as much) and $1.35 for Qwen3.6 27B (3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has an ECI of 146.2, Qwen3.6 27B has an ECI of 146.5 and Qwen3 Coder Next has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B, Qwen3.6 27B and Qwen3 Coder Next yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B and 262,144 for Qwen3 Coder Next. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B up to 128,000, Qwen3.6 27B up to 65,536, Qwen3 Coder Next up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B accepts text; Qwen3.6 27B accepts text, images, audio and video; Qwen3 Coder Next accepts text. Qwen3.6 27B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B is the newest, released Jun 4, 2026. Qwen3.6 27B came out Apr 22, 2026; Qwen3 Coder Next came out Feb 3, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Coder Next Sep 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.
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