AI model comparison
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Step 3.5 Flash
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
StepFun
Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash is StepFun's most capable open-source foundation model.
- Input / 1M
- $0.10
- Output / 1M
- $0.30
- Context
- 262K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Step 3.5 Flash
2.3x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
18.2 vs 17 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Tie
262K vs 262K 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 A3B18.2Coding index
Qwen3.6 35B A3B41.9Agentic index
Qwen3.6 35B A3B13.1Pricing
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs Step 3.5 Flash API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.10 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1 | $0.30 |
| 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$0.80Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Qwen3.6 35B A3B$8.50$5.50 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Qwen3.6 35B A3B$24.50$9.50 cachedSpecs
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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 262K tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 66K 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 | January 29, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Not supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Not supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Not 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 DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Hy3
- Step 3.5 Flash vs DeepSeek V3.2
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Ling 3.0 Flash
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Step 3.7 Flash
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
- Step 3.5 Flash vs DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- Step 3.5 Flash vs GLM 4.7 Flash
- Step 3.5 Flash vs Gemma 4 31B
- Step 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5 Nano
Our take
Step 3.5 Flash is 2.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Qwen3.6 35B A3B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (18.2 vs 17). 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 Step 3.5 Flash cheaper?
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Step 3.5 Flash costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.30 per 1M output tokens, while Qwen3.6 35B A3B costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Qwen3.6 35B A3B or Step 3.5 Flash?
Qwen3.6 35B A3B supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 262K for Step 3.5 Flash.
Is Qwen3.6 35B A3B smarter than Step 3.5 Flash?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3.6 35B A3B scores 18.2 and Step 3.5 Flash scores 17, 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 Step 3.5 Flash at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Qwen3.6 35B A3B and Step 3.5 Flash answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Qwen3.6 35B A3B and Step 3.5 Flash at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.