Model Comparison

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Grok 4.3Which is better in 2026?

Grok 4.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Grok 4.3 — which is better?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Grok 4.3 (by xAI) 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.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok 4.3 is better at 1 benchmark (GDPval-AA). Grok 4.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok 4.3 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok 4.3 is better at 1 benchmark (GDPval-AA).

Grok 4.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok 4.3 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens).

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok 4.3
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Grok 4.3 does not.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok 4.3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Grok 4.3 uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Grok 4.3

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16, while Grok 4.3 was released on 2026-05-06.

Grok 4.3 is 1 month newer than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apr 16, 2026

3 months ago

Grok 4.3

May 6, 2026

2 months ago

2w newer

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

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Supports multimodal inputs
Has open weights
xAI
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Higher GDPval-AA score (36.7% vs 35.2%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Grok 4.3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
✓ Preferred
Grok 4.3
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
xAI
Grok 4.3

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Grok 4.3.

Which is better, Qwen3.6-35B-A3B or Grok 4.3?

Grok 4.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Grok 4.3 is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.6-35B-A3B compare to Grok 4.3 in benchmarks?

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%. Grok 4.3 scores Finance Agent v2: 37.7%, GDPval-AA: 36.7%.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Grok 4.3?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok 4.3 supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Grok 4.3?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Grok 4.3?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Grok 4.3 is developed by xAI.

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