Model Comparison
Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is 2.4x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B — which is better?
Qwen3 Max (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B (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.
Qwen3 Max outperforms in 2 benchmarks (SuperGPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, t2-bench). Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
On price, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is roughly 2.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
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.
Choose Qwen3 Max if…
- you want predictable pricing at $0.50/M input and $5.00/M output
Choose Qwen3.5-35B-A3B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 2.4x cheaper per token
- 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
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3 Max outperforms in 2 benchmarks (SuperGPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, t2-bench).
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3 Max ($0.50/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ($0.25/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3 Max ($5.00/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ($2.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 Max is more expensive than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 Max has 965.0B more parameters than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B, making it 2757.1% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3 Max's 256,000 tokens. Qwen3 Max can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is limited to 65,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 Max does not.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3 Max
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Qwen3 Max 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
Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B was released on 2026-02-24.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is 2 months newer than Qwen3 Max.
Dec 15, 2025
7 months ago
Feb 24, 2026
4 months ago
2mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3 Max is available from Novita. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is available from Novita.
Qwen3 Max
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 Max
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3 Max and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
| Feature | | |
|---|
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.