Grok-3 Mini vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B are closely matched at 31.3 and 30.9 on the LLM Stats Score. Grok-3 Mini is 1.0x cheaper per token.
xAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 31.3 and 30.9.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Grok-3 Mini
- you want predictable pricing at $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output
Choose Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for Grok-3 Mini · 81 for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 2.1x more expensive than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ($0.14/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 2.0x cheaper than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ($1.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is more expensive than Grok-3 Mini.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Grok-3 Mini's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Grok-3 Mini is limited to 8,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Grok-3 Mini
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-3 Mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B was released on 2026-02-24.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is 12 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.
Feb 17, 2025
1.6 years ago
Feb 24, 2026
6 months ago
1.0yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3.5-35B-A3B's cutoff date.
Nov 2024
—
Provider Availability
Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
Grok-3 Mini
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.