Qwen3.5 27B vs Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base vs Aion-3.0-Mini
Qwen3.5 27B comes out ahead, 57 to 45 and 41 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base is 10% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 27B
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $2.40
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base
45/100- ECI—
- Price$0.54 / $1.33
- Context262K
Aion Labs
Aion-3.0-Mini
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.70 / $1.40
- Context131K
Qwen3.5 27B is our pick
Qwen3.5 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base (45) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 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 priceQwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseQwen3.5 35B-A3B Base $0.739 · Qwen3.5 27B $0.825 · Aion-3.0-Mini $0.875 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 27B and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseQwen3.5 27B 262,144 · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 262,144 · Aion-3.0-Mini 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 27B and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseQwen3.5 27B: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base: Text, Images, Video · Aion-3.0-Mini: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 27B and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BasePublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 27B | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base | Aion-3.0-Mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 54 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 45/100 | 41/100 |
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 | Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseAlibaba (Qwen) | Aion-3.0-MiniAion Labs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $0.54 | $0.70 |
| Output | $2.40 | $1.33 (best) | $1.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.825 | $0.739 (best) | $0.875 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 1 providers | Median of 4 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3.5-27b | — | — |
| API providers | 19 (best) | 1 | 4 |
| Released | Feb 23, 2026 | Feb 24, 2026 | May 14, 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.
- Qwen3.5 27B$7.80
- Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base$8.07
- Aion-3.0-Mini$9.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 27B, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base or Aion-3.0-Mini?
Qwen3.5 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base (45) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 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, Qwen3.5 27B, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base or Aion-3.0-Mini?
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base is cheaper at $0.54 input / $1.33 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3.5 27B costs $0.30 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Aion-3.0-Mini costs $0.70 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.739 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base versus $0.825 for Qwen3.5 27B (1.1× as much) and $0.875 for Aion-3.0-Mini (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3.5 27B has not been scored yet, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base has not been scored yet and Aion-3.0-Mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 27B, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base and Aion-3.0-Mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.5 27B and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 131,072 for Aion-3.0-Mini. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 27B up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base up to 65,536, Aion-3.0-Mini up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 27B accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base accepts text, images and video; Aion-3.0-Mini accepts text. Qwen3.5 27B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 27B and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Aion-3.0-Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aion-3.0-Mini is the newest, released May 14, 2026. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base came out Feb 24, 2026; Qwen3.5 27B came out Feb 23, 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.
