Model Comparison

Qwen3.6-27B vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3BWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3.6-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Qwen3.6-27B vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B — which is better?

Qwen3.6-27B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3.6-35B-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.

Qwen3.6-27B outperforms in 32 benchmarks (AIME 2026, C-Eval, CharXiv-R, Claw-Eval, EmbSpatialBench, GDPval-AA, GPQA, HMMT 2025, HMMT25, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveCodeBench v6, MathVista-Mini, MLVU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux, MMMU, MMMU-Pro, MVBench, NL2Repo, RefCOCO-avg, RefSpatialBench, SkillsBench, SuperGPQA, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, VideoMME w sub., VideoMMMU, ZClawBench), while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is better at 4 benchmarks (CC-OCR, MMBench-V1.1, RealWorldQA, SimpleVQA). Qwen3.6-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Qwen3.6-27B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 32 of 36 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026

Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

36 benchmarks

Qwen3.6-27B outperforms in 32 benchmarks (AIME 2026, C-Eval, CharXiv-R, Claw-Eval, EmbSpatialBench, GDPval-AA, GPQA, HMMT 2025, HMMT25, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveCodeBench v6, MathVista-Mini, MLVU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux, MMMU, MMMU-Pro, MVBench, NL2Repo, RefCOCO-avg, RefSpatialBench, SkillsBench, SuperGPQA, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, VideoMME w sub., VideoMMMU, ZClawBench), while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is better at 4 benchmarks (CC-OCR, MMBench-V1.1, RealWorldQA, SimpleVQA).

Qwen3.6-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

7.2B diff

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B has 7.2B more parameters than Qwen3.6-27B, making it 26.0% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
27.8Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
35.0Bparameters
27.8B
Qwen3.6-27B
35.0B
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3.6-27B specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3.6-27B specifies output context (65,536 tokens).

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
Input262,144 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen3.6-27B and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Qwen3.6-27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Qwen3.6-27B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.6-27B was released on 2026-04-21, while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16.

Qwen3.6-27B is 0 month newer than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Qwen3.6-27B

Apr 21, 2026

2 months ago

5d newer
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apr 16, 2026

3 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.6-27B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher AIME 2026 score (94.1% vs 92.7%)
Higher C-Eval score (91.4% vs 90.0%)
Higher CharXiv-R score (78.4% vs 78.0%)
Higher Claw-Eval score (60.6% vs 50.0%)
Higher EmbSpatialBench score (84.6% vs 84.3%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (38.6% vs 35.2%)
Higher GPQA score (87.8% vs 86.0%)
Higher HMMT 2025 score (93.8% vs 90.7%)
Higher HMMT25 score (90.7% vs 89.1%)
Higher HMMT Feb 26 score (84.3% vs 83.6%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (24.0% vs 21.4%)
Higher IMO-AnswerBench score (80.8% vs 78.9%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (83.9% vs 80.4%)
Higher MathVista-Mini score (87.4% vs 86.4%)
Higher MLVU score (86.6% vs 86.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (86.2% vs 85.2%)
Higher MMLU-Redux score (93.5% vs 93.3%)
Higher MMMU score (82.9% vs 81.7%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (75.8% vs 75.3%)
Higher MVBench score (75.5% vs 74.6%)
Higher NL2Repo score (36.2% vs 29.4%)
Higher RefCOCO-avg score (92.5% vs 92.0%)
Higher RefSpatialBench score (70.0% vs 64.3%)
Higher SkillsBench score (48.2% vs 28.7%)
Higher SuperGPQA score (66.0% vs 64.7%)
Higher SWE-bench Multilingual score (71.3% vs 67.2%)
Higher SWE-Bench Pro score (53.5% vs 49.5%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (77.2% vs 73.4%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (59.3% vs 51.5%)
Higher VideoMME w sub. score (87.7% vs 86.6%)
Higher VideoMMMU score (84.4% vs 83.7%)
Higher ZClawBench score (53.4% vs 52.6%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher CC-OCR score (81.9% vs 81.2%)
Higher MMBench-V1.1 score (92.8% vs 92.3%)
Higher RealWorldQA score (85.3% vs 84.1%)
Higher SimpleVQA score (58.9% vs 56.1%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.6-27B and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.6-27B
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.6-27B vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Which is better, Qwen3.6-27B or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.6-27B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.6-27B compare to Qwen3.6-35B-A3B in benchmarks?

Qwen3.6-27B scores CountBench: 97.8%, VLMsAreBlind: 97.0%, V*: 94.7%, AIME 2026: 94.1%, HMMT 2025: 93.8%. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scores MMLU-Redux: 93.3%, MMBench-V1.1: 92.8%, AI2D: 92.7%, AIME 2026: 92.7%, RefCOCO-avg: 92.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3.6-27B and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6-27B supports 262K tokens and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

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