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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs o3

o3 comes out ahead, 58 to 54 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.6 Max Preview is 16% cheaper per token.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Max Preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    54/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.30 / $7.80
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Max Preview
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    o3

    Released Apr 16, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI146.9
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

o3 is our pick

o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on capability, price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.6 Max PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 · o3 146.9
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 · o3 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · o3 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputso3Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · o3: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 Max Previewo3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7774
Price25%2824
Inputs & features15%3580
Context window10%3732
Overall100%54/10058/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs o3 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)o3OpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.2 (best)146.9
ECI rank#54 of 148 (best)#63 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions87.4% (best)81.8%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—33.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics91.1% (best)84.4%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues76.7% (best)62.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions52.0% (best)49.4%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.30 (best)$2.00
Output$7.80 (best)$8.00
Cached input$0.13 (best)$0.50
Blended (3:1)$2.92 (best)$3.50
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)200,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens100,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.6-max-previewo3
API providers1018 (best)
ReleasedApr 20, 2026Apr 16, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025May 2024
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.

  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
  • o3$36.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.6 Max Preview or o3?

o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on capability, price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or o3?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is cheaper at $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). o3 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.92 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 Max Preview versus $3.50 for o3 (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148) and o3 146.9 (#63 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.6–152.0 vs 144.9–148.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, o3 81.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, o3 84.4%; SWE-bench Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7%, o3 62.3%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, o3 49.4%.

Which is better for coding?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7% and o3 62.3%. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 200,000 for o3. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, o3 up to 100,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; o3 accepts text, images and PDFs. o3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3.6 Max Preview and o3 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. o3 came out Apr 16, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025, o3 May 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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