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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview

Qwen3.6 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Plus

    Released Apr 2, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI147.6
    • Price$0.50 / $3.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Plus

  2. 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

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.6 Plus is our pick

Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on capability. 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 · Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus $1.13 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Max Preview
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7577
Price25%4728
Inputs & features15%7035
Context window10%6037
Overall100%66/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)147.6149.2 (best)
ECI rank#59 of 148#54 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.4% (best)87.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics38.3%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.3% (best)91.1%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues57.9%76.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions44.1%52.0% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50 (best)$1.30
Output$3.00 (best)$7.80
Cached input$0.05 (best)$0.13
Blended (3:1)$1.13 (best)$2.92
Long-context rateOver 256K: $2.00 / $6.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.6-plusqwen3.6-max-preview
API providers18 (best)10
ReleasedApr 2, 2026Apr 20, 2026
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 Plus$11.00
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

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

Qwen3.6 Plus is cheaper at $0.50 input / $3.00 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 $1.13 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 Plus versus $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (2.6× 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 Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6 (#59 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.6–152.0 vs 145.4–149.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Plus 88.4%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Plus 93.3%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%; SWE-bench Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7%, Qwen3.6 Plus 57.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1%.

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 Qwen3.6 Plus 57.9%. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Qwen3.6 Plus came out Apr 2, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Plus Apr 2025, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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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