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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base vs Qwen3.5 9B Base

Qwen3.5 9B Base comes out ahead, 50 to 45 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base

    Released Feb 24, 2026

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.54 / $1.33
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 9B Base

    Released Feb 26, 2026

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.807
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 9B Base

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 9B Base is our pick

Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base (45). It leads 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 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base $0.739 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 262,144 · Qwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.5 35B-A3B Base: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base
Price50%5465
Inputs & features30%3535
Context window20%3737
Overall100%45/10050/100

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

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base vs Qwen3.5 9B Base specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.54$0.30 (best)
Output$1.33$0.807 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.739$0.427 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0OpenApache-2.0
API model ID——
API providers11
ReleasedFeb 24, 2026Feb 26, 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.

  • Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base$8.07
  • Qwen3.5 9B Base$4.61
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base or Qwen3.5 9B Base?

Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base (45). It leads 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 35B-A3B Base or Qwen3.5 9B Base?

Qwen3.5 9B Base is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base costs $0.54 input / $1.33 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.427 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B Base versus $0.739 for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base and Qwen3.5 9B Base 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 and Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base and Qwen3.5 9B Base share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 9B Base is the newest, released Feb 26, 2026. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base came out Feb 24, 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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