Model Comparison

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Seed 2.1 ProWhich is better in 2026?

Seed 2.1 Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Seed 2.1 Pro — which is better?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Seed 2.1 Pro (by ByteDance) 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 1 benchmarks (EmbSpatialBench), while Seed 2.1 Pro is better at 11 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, Humanity's Last Exam, LVBench, MCP Atlas, MMMU-Pro, NL2Repo, RealWorldQA, SimpleVQA, SuperGPQA, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon). Seed 2.1 Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B if…

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

Choose Seed 2.1 Pro if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 11 of 12 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

12 benchmarks

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (EmbSpatialBench), while Seed 2.1 Pro is better at 11 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, Humanity's Last Exam, LVBench, MCP Atlas, MMMU-Pro, NL2Repo, RealWorldQA, SimpleVQA, SuperGPQA, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon).

Seed 2.1 Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Seed 2.1 Pro support multimodal inputs.

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

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Seed 2.1 Pro

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Seed 2.1 Pro 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

Seed 2.1 Pro

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16, while Seed 2.1 Pro was released on 2026-06-24.

Seed 2.1 Pro is 2 months newer than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apr 16, 2026

3 months ago

Seed 2.1 Pro

Jun 24, 2026

3 weeks ago

2mo 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

Has open weights
Higher EmbSpatialBench score (84.3% vs 83.4%)
ByteDance
Higher CharXiv-R score (86.4% vs 78.0%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (55.7% vs 21.4%)
Higher LVBench score (78.0% vs 71.4%)
Higher MCP Atlas score (83.8% vs 62.8%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (82.7% vs 75.3%)
Higher NL2Repo score (47.0% vs 29.4%)
Higher RealWorldQA score (86.7% vs 85.3%)
Higher SimpleVQA score (74.5% vs 58.9%)
Higher SuperGPQA score (70.8% vs 64.7%)
Higher SWE-Bench Pro score (57.5% vs 49.5%)
Higher Toolathlon score (50.6% vs 26.9%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Seed 2.1 Pro side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
✓ Preferred
Seed 2.1 Pro
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
ByteDance
Seed 2.1 Pro

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Seed 2.1 Pro.

Which is better, Qwen3.6-35B-A3B or Seed 2.1 Pro?

Seed 2.1 Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Seed 2.1 Pro is made by ByteDance. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.6-35B-A3B compare to Seed 2.1 Pro 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%. Seed 2.1 Pro scores CharXiv-D: 95.5%, MathVision: 94.5%, MathVista: 90.7%, MathVerse: 89.7%, Video-MME: 89.2%.

What are the main differences between Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Seed 2.1 Pro?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Seed 2.1 Pro?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Seed 2.1 Pro is developed by ByteDance.

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