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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Sarvam 105B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Sarvam 105B 52, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. 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

  2. Sarvam AI

    Sarvam 105B

    Released Feb 18, 2026

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.158 / $0.632
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Sarvam 105B

  3. Add a model

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sarvam 105B 52/100, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sarvam 105B on price and Qwen3.5 9B Base for long inputs. 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 priceSarvam 105BSarvam 105B $0.276 · Qwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Sarvam 105B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video · Sarvam 105B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9B BaseSarvam 105B
Price50%6573
Inputs & features30%3535
Context window20%3725
Overall100%50/10052/100

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 9B Base vs Sarvam 105B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)Sarvam 105BSarvam AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.158 (best)
Output$0.807$0.632 (best)
Cached input—$0.053
Blended (3:1)$0.427$0.276 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Sarvam AI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningNoYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID—sarvam-105b
API providers13 (best)
ReleasedFeb 26, 2026Feb 18, 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 9B Base$4.61
  • Sarvam 105B$2.84
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B Base or Sarvam 105B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sarvam 105B 52/100, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sarvam 105B on price and Qwen3.5 9B Base for long inputs. 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 Sarvam 105B?

Sarvam 105B is cheaper at $0.158 input / $0.632 output per million tokens (official Sarvam AI API price). Qwen3.5 9B Base costs $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.276 per million tokens for Sarvam 105B versus $0.427 for Qwen3.5 9B Base (1.5× 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 Sarvam 105B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B Base and Sarvam 105B 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 Sarvam 105B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536, Sarvam 105B up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video; Sarvam 105B accepts text. Qwen3.5 9B Base handles the widest range of inputs.

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. Sarvam 105B came out Feb 18, 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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