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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Qwen3 Max

Qwen3.6 Max Preview comes out ahead, 54 to 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Max is 18% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    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. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is our pick

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on price. 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 · Qwen3 Max 142.4
  • Lowest priceQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max $2.40 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7768
Price25%2832
Inputs & features15%3525
Context window10%3737
Overall100%54/10050/100
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 Qwen3 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.2 (best)142.4
ECI rank#54 of 148 (best)#91 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions87.4% (best)72.6%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—19.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics91.1% (best)73.3%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues76.7%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions52.0% (best)48.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.30$1.20 (best)
Output$7.80$6.00 (best)
Cached input$0.13—
Blended (3:1)$2.92$2.40 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.6-max-previewqwen3-max
API providers1016 (best)
ReleasedApr 20, 2026Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 2025
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
  • Qwen3 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

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

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

Qwen3 Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.40 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max versus $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (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 Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.6–152.0 vs 140.0–144.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, Qwen3 Max 48.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Qwen3 Max share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; Qwen3 Max accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025, Qwen3 Max Apr 2025.

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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