Model comparison

Grok 4.3 vs Qwen3.5 35B-A3B

Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 42.0 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B costs 2.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 26 shared benchmarks.

Grok 4.3 xAI

43.8

Rank #86 Confirmed

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Alibaba (Qwen)

42.0

Rank #123 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 26 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok 4.3 scores higher in 7 categories and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B in 1 category; 4 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Grok 4.3 leads 35.9 to 24.6.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 93.3% for Grok 4.3 and 70% for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B.
  • Qwen3.5 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.25 / $2 per million input/output tokens, against $1.25 / $2.50 for Grok 4.3.
  • Grok 4.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
  • Qwen3.5 35B-A3B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Grok 4.3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B specifications
Grok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
ProviderxAIAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index43.842.0
Released2026-04-172026-02-01
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1M262K
Max output30K66K
Input $ / M tokens$1.25$0.25
Output $ / M tokens$2.50$2
Results tracked4028

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Category by category

Coding Grok 4.3 leads

Grok 4.3: 41.6 (#121), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 33.8 (#251)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena WebDev13571254
SciCode47.3%29.3%
LMArena Coding14151410
WeirdML49.9%—
ALE-Bench944.17—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Grok 4.3: 27.7 (#99), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
GDP.pdf8%—
LMArena Search1165—
Vending-Bench 235.26—

Reasoning Grok 4.3 leads

Grok 4.3: 35.9 (#68), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 24.6 (#161)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
CritPt8%0.6%
Chess Puzzles25%10%
LMArena Hard Prompts13961400
DTBench90.7%80%
LMCA38.3%29.5%
Epoch Capabilities Index149.16142.52
NYT Connections (extended)55.2%—
ForecastBench60.3—

Math Grok 4.3 leads

Grok 4.3: 46.0 (#74), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 39.9 (#97)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202593.3%70%
LMArena Math13881404
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)42.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 414.6%—
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—56%
ProofBench11%—

Knowledge Grok 4.3 leads

Grok 4.3: 52.5 (#62), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 47.8 (#79)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
GPQA Diamond88.8%83.5%
LMArena Expert13851408
SimpleQA Verified33.2%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate—10.5%

Multimodal Not comparable

Grok 4.3: 31.6 (#104), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena Vision1229—
Blueprint-Bench 20%—

Multilingual Too close to call

Grok 4.3: 50.5 (#120), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 50.0 (#127)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena Non-English13851378
LMArena Chinese14221457
LMArena French14121412
LMArena German13951367
LMArena Japanese13791325
LMArena Korean13561356
LMArena Russian13991376
LMArena Spanish13981392

Instruction Following Too close to call

Grok 4.3: 72.1 (#140), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 72.8 (#128)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena Instruction Following13661379

Long Context Too close to call

Grok 4.3: 42.5 (#123), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 42.4 (#127)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena Longer Query13931389

Writing & Preference Too close to call

Grok 4.3: 58.5 (#118), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 57.9 (#124)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok 4.3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
LMArena Text13971395
LMArena Creative Writing13801346
LMArena Multi-Turn14061390
EQ-Bench 41075—

Frequently asked questions

Is Grok 4.3 better than Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?

Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 42.0 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B costs 2.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Grok 4.3 or Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $2 per million output tokens; Grok 4.3 lists at $1.25 and $2.50.

Is Grok 4.3 or Qwen3.5 35B-A3B better for coding?

Grok 4.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.6 versus 33.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Grok 4.3 does, with 1M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks do Grok 4.3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B share?

26 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok 4.3 has 40 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B has 28.

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