Qwen3.6 35B-A3B vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
68/100- ECI143.9
- Price$0.248 / $1.49
- Context262K
GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash Lite
70/100- ECI145.1
- Price$0.30 / $2.50
- Context1.05M
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for raw capability and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.5 Flash LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9
- Lowest priceQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteQwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3.6 35B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 70 | 72 |
| Price | 25% | 62 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 90 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 143.9 | 145.1 (best) |
| ECI rank | #83 of 148 | #79 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 84.9% (best) | 83.3% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 20.4% | 26.0% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 86.7% (best) | 71.1% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.248 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $1.49 (best) | $2.50 |
| Cached input | — | $0.03 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.557 (best) | $0.85 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Google API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | Yes |
| Video | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3.6-35b-a3b | gemini-3.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 34 (best) | 26 |
| Released | Apr 17, 2026 | Jul 21, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Mar 2026 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.6 35B-A3B or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for raw capability and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.248 input / $1.49 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.557 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1 (#79 of 148) and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (142.5–146.7 vs 141.2–146.0), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 84.9%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 83.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 26.0%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 20.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 86.7%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 71.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B came out Apr 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Mar 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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