AI model comparison
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Qwen
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is an open-weight multimodal model from Alibaba Cloud with 35 billion total parameters and 3 billion active parameters per token.
- Input / 1M
- $0.15
- Output / 1M
- $1
- Context
- 262K
DeepSeek
DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
DeepSeek-V3.1 Terminus is an update to [DeepSeek V3.1](/deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1) that maintains the model's original capabilities while addressing issues reported by users, including language consistency and agent capabilities, further optimizing the model's
- Input / 1M
- $0.27
- Output / 1M
- $1
- Context
- 164K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
1.3x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
18.2 vs 14.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
262K vs 164K tokens
Newer release
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Released April 27, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Qwen3.6 35B A3B18.2DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus14.8Coding index
Qwen3.6 35B A3B41.9DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus43.5Agentic index
Qwen3.6 35B A3B13.1DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus6.8Pricing
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.27 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1 | $1 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.05 | Not available |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Qwen3.6 35B A3B$0.80DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus$1.04Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Qwen3.6 35B A3B$8.50$5.50 cachedDeepSeek V3.1 Terminus$12.10Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Qwen3.6 35B A3B$24.50$9.50 cachedDeepSeek V3.1 Terminus$42.50Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 164K tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 147K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text, Video | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | April 27, 2026 | September 22, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Qwen3.6 35B A3BView full model details- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Step 3.7 Flash
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs GPT-5.4 Nano
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs LongCat 2.0
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs MiniMax M2
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs GLM 4.6
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Step 3.5 Flash
DeepSeek V3.1 TerminusView full model details- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs Gemma 4 31B
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs Kimi K2 0905
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs Mercury 2
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs DeepSeek V3.1
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs R1 0528
- DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus vs DeepSeek V3 0324
Our take
Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 1.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Qwen3.6 35B A3B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (18.2 vs 14.8). Qwen3.6 35B A3B has the larger context window (262K vs 164K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen3.6 35B A3B or DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus cheaper?
Qwen3.6 35B A3B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Qwen3.6 35B A3B costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens, while DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus costs $0.27 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Qwen3.6 35B A3B or DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus?
Qwen3.6 35B A3B supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 164K for DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus.
Is Qwen3.6 35B A3B smarter than DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3.6 35B A3B scores 18.2 and DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus scores 14.8, putting Qwen3.6 35B A3B ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Qwen3.6 35B A3B and DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Qwen3.6 35B A3B and DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Qwen3.6 35B A3B and DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.