Model Comparison
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17BWhich is better in 2026?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is 1.5x cheaper per token.
Verdict: DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B — which is better?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max (by DeepSeek) and Qwen3.5-397B-A17B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max outperforms in 9 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GDPval-AA, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro). DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is roughly 1.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 9 of 10 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
Choose Qwen3.5-397B-A17B if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.5x cheaper per token
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max outperforms in 9 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GDPval-AA, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro).
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($1.60/1M tokens) is 2.7x more expensive than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B ($0.60/1M tokens).
For output processing, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($3.20/1M tokens) is 1.1x cheaper than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B ($3.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is more expensive than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max has 1203.0B more parameters than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B, making it 303.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Qwen3.5-397B-A17B's 262,144 tokens. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max does not.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max was released on 2026-04-23, while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B was released on 2026-02-16.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is 2 months newer than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B.
Apr 23, 2026
3 months ago
2mo newerFeb 16, 2026
5 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is available from Novita, DeepInfra, DeepSeek, Fireworks, Together. Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is available from Novita.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
View detailsDeepSeek
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max and Qwen3.5-397B-A17B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B.