AI model comparison
Qwen3.6 Plus vs Grok 4.20
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Qwen
Qwen3.6 Plus
Qwen 3.6 Plus builds on a hybrid architecture that combines efficient linear attention with sparse mixture-of-experts routing, enabling strong scalability and high-performance inference.
- Input / 1M
- $0.33
- Output / 1M
- $1.95
- Context
- 1M
xAI
Grok 4.20
Grok 4.20 is a reasoning model from SpaceXAI with industry-leading speed and agentic tool calling capabilities.
- Input / 1M
- $1.25
- Output / 1M
- $2.50
- Context
- 2M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Qwen3.6 Plus
2.3x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Qwen3.6 Plus
27 vs 25.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Grok 4.20
2M vs 1M tokens
Newer release
Qwen3.6 Plus
Released April 2, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Qwen3.6 Plus27Coding index
Qwen3.6 Plus54.5Agentic index
Qwen3.6 PlusNot availablePricing
Qwen3.6 Plus vs Grok 4.20 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.33 | $1.25 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.95 | $2.50 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | Not available | $0.20 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $0.41 | Not available |
| Long-context pricingPer 1M tokens, for very long prompts | $1.30 in / $3.90 out above 256K | $2.50 in / $5 out above 200K |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.005 |
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 Plus$1.63Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Qwen3.6 Plus$17.55Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Qwen3.6 Plus$52.65Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M tokens | 2M tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | 1.80M tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text, Video | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | April 2, 2026 | March 31, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Qwen3.6 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Not supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | 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 PlusView full model details- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3.7 Max
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs MiniMax M3
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs GLM 5
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Grok Build 0.1
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Kimi K2.6
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs GLM 5.1
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Inkling Small
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3.7 Plus
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3.5-27B
- Grok 4.20 vs Grok Build 0.1
- Grok 4.20 vs Kimi K2.6
- Grok 4.20 vs GLM 5 Turbo
- Grok 4.20 vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
- Grok 4.20 vs GLM 5.1
- Grok 4.20 vs Kimi K2.7 Code
- Grok 4.20 vs Inkling Small
- Grok 4.20 vs Qwen3.7 Plus
- Grok 4.20 vs Inkling
- Grok 4.20 vs Grok 4.3
- Grok 4.20 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Grok 4.20 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Our take
Qwen3.6 Plus is 2.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Qwen3.6 Plus scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (27 vs 25.7). Grok 4.20 has the larger context window (2M vs 1M 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 Plus or Grok 4.20 cheaper?
Qwen3.6 Plus is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.33 per 1M input tokens and $1.95 per 1M output tokens, while Grok 4.20 costs $1.25 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Qwen3.6 Plus or Grok 4.20?
Grok 4.20 supports up to 2M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Qwen3.6 Plus.
Is Qwen3.6 Plus smarter than Grok 4.20?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3.6 Plus scores 27 and Grok 4.20 scores 25.7, putting Qwen3.6 Plus ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Qwen3.6 Plus and Grok 4.20 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Qwen3.6 Plus and Grok 4.20 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Qwen3.6 Plus and Grok 4.20 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.