Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Aion-3.0
Qwen3.5 9B Base comes out ahead, 50 to 26 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 9B Base
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.807
- Context262K
Aion Labs
Aion-3.0
26/100- ECI—
- Price$3.00 / $6.00
- Context131K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen3.5 9B Base is our pick
Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Aion-3.0 (26). It leads on price and context window. 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 · Aion-3.0 $3.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Aion-3.0 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video · Aion-3.0: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 9B BasePublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 9B Base | Aion-3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 65 | 22 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 26/100 |
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 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen) | Aion-3.0Aion Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $3.00 |
| Output | $0.807 (best) | $6.00 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.427 (best) | $3.75 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 4 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 4 (best) |
| Released | Feb 26, 2026 | May 5, 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 9B Base$4.61
- Aion-3.0$42.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B Base or Aion-3.0?
Qwen3.5 9B Base is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Aion-3.0 (26). It leads on price and context window. 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 9B Base or Aion-3.0?
Qwen3.5 9B Base is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Aion-3.0 costs $3.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). 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 $3.75 for Aion-3.0 (8.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet and Aion-3.0 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B Base and Aion-3.0 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.5 9B Base has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Aion-3.0. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536, Aion-3.0 up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video; Aion-3.0 accepts text. Qwen3.5 9B Base handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 9B Base publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Aion-3.0 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aion-3.0 is the newest, released May 5, 2026. Qwen3.5 9B Base came out Feb 26, 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.
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