Model Comparison

Qwen3.6 Plus vs DeepSeek-V4-Pro-MaxWhich is better in 2026?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3.6 Plus is 1.8x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Qwen3.6 Plus vs DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max — which is better?

Qwen3.6 Plus (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max (by DeepSeek) 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 Plus outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MCP Atlas, MMLU-Pro, SWE-Bench Pro), while DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is better at 10 benchmarks (FrontierSWE, GDPval-AA, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveBench, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon). DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

On price, Qwen3.6 Plus is roughly 1.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Qwen3.6 Plus if…

  • cost matters — it's about 1.8x cheaper per token

Choose DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 10 of 14 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

14 benchmarks

Qwen3.6 Plus outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MCP Atlas, MMLU-Pro, SWE-Bench Pro), while DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is better at 10 benchmarks (FrontierSWE, GDPval-AA, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveBench, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon).

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3.6 Plus costs less

For input processing, Qwen3.6 Plus ($0.50/1M tokens) is 3.2x cheaper than DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($1.60/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3.6 Plus ($3.00/1M tokens) is 1.1x cheaper than DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max ($3.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is more expensive than Qwen3.6 Plus.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6 Plus
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$3.00
Best providerTogether
DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
Input tokens$1.60
Output tokens$3.20
Best providerNovita
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Qwen3.6 Plus's 1,000,000 tokens. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen3.6 Plus is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6 Plus
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.6 Plus supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max does not.

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

Qwen3.6 Plus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3.6 Plus is licensed under a proprietary license, while DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max uses MIT.

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

Qwen3.6 Plus

Proprietary

Closed source

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.6 Plus was released on 2026-03-31, while DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max was released on 2026-04-23.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is 1 month newer than Qwen3.6 Plus.

Qwen3.6 Plus

Mar 31, 2026

3 months ago

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

Apr 23, 2026

2 months ago

3w 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

Provider Availability

Qwen3.6 Plus is available from Together. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is available from Novita, DeepInfra, DeepSeek, Fireworks, Together.

Qwen3.6 Plus

together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $1.60/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.20/1M
deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M
deepseek logo
DeepSeek
Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M
fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M
together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $1.74/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.48/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.6 Plus

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Supports multimodal inputs
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher GPQA score (90.4% vs 90.1%)
Higher MCP Atlas score (74.1% vs 73.6%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (88.5% vs 87.5%)
Higher SWE-Bench Pro score (56.6% vs 55.4%)
DeepSeek
Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Has open weights
Higher FrontierSWE score (29.0% vs 22.0%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (44.4% vs 38.7%)
Higher HMMT Feb 26 score (95.2% vs 87.8%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (48.2% vs 28.8%)
Higher IMO-AnswerBench score (89.8% vs 83.8%)
Higher LiveBench score (73.6% vs 70.9%)
Higher SWE-bench Multilingual score (76.2% vs 73.8%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (80.6% vs 78.8%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (67.9% vs 61.6%)
Higher Toolathlon score (51.8% vs 39.8%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.6 Plus and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.6 Plus
✓ Preferred
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6 Plus
DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.6 Plus vs DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max.

Which is better, Qwen3.6 Plus or DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max?

DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3.6 Plus is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is made by DeepSeek. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.6 Plus compare to DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max in benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Plus scores CountBench: 97.6%, V*: 96.9%, HMMT 2025: 96.7%, AIME 2026: 95.3%, HMMT25: 94.6%. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max scores CodeForces: 100.0%, HMMT Feb 26: 95.2%, LiveCodeBench: 93.5%, MathArena Apex: 90.2%, GPQA: 90.1%.

Is Qwen3.6 Plus cheaper than DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max?

Qwen3.6 Plus is 3.2x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50/M input and $3.00/M output via together. DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max costs $1.60/M input and $3.20/M output via novita.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3.6 Plus and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max?

Qwen3.6 Plus supports 1.0M tokens and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max 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 Plus and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.50 vs $1.60/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Qwen3.6 Plus and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max?

Qwen3.6 Plus is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max is developed by DeepSeek.

Related comparisons