Model comparison
Qwen Max vs Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.9 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 2 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 2 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen Max scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3.6 27B in 5 categories; 4 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Qwen3.6 27B leads 47.5 to 21.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.1% for Qwen Max and 91.1% for Qwen3.6 27B.
- Qwen3.6 27B is cheaper at $0.60 / $3.60 per million input/output tokens, against $1.60 / $6.40 for Qwen Max.
- Qwen3.6 27B accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 33K.
- Qwen3.6 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 34.4 | 41.9 |
| Released | 2024-04-03 | 2026-04-22 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 33K | 262K |
| Max output | 8K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.60 | $0.60 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $6.40 | $3.60 |
| Results tracked | 23 | 11 |
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Category by category
Coding Qwen3.6 27B leads
Qwen Max: 30.3 (#288), Qwen3.6 27B: 38.5 (#162)
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Aider Polyglot | 21.8% | — |
| SciCode | — | 37.3% |
| LMArena Coding | 1288 | — |
Reasoning Too close to call
Qwen Max: 24.1 (#154), Qwen3.6 27B: 24.4 (#148)
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 0.9% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 22% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1270 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 7% |
| DTBench | — | 78.1% |
| LMCA | — | 34.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 146.47 |
Math Qwen3.6 27B leads
Qwen Max: 21.0 (#272), Qwen3.6 27B: 47.5 (#56)
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.1% | 91.1% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 35.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1275 | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 67.2% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1% | — |
Knowledge Qwen3.6 27B leads
Qwen Max: 30.3 (#222), Qwen3.6 27B: 52.4 (#58)
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 56.1% | 85.9% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Qwen Max: 42.0 (#197), Qwen3.6 27B: —
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1263 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1254 | — |
| LMArena French | 1329 | — |
| LMArena German | 1254 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1205 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1141 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1274 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1290 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Qwen Max: 66.7 (#203), Qwen3.6 27B: —
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1262 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen Max: 39.4 (#175), Qwen3.6 27B: —
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Fiction.LiveBench | 66.7% | — |
| LMArena Longer Query | 1289 | — |
Writing & Preference Qwen3.6 27B leads
Qwen Max: 48.0 (#200), Qwen3.6 27B: 50.3 (#180)
| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1282 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1248 | — |
| EQ-Bench 4 | — | 1026 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1277 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen Max better than Qwen3.6 27B?
Qwen3.6 27B is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.9 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Qwen Max or Qwen3.6 27B?
Qwen3.6 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.60 per million input tokens and $3.60 per million output tokens; Qwen Max lists at $1.60 and $6.40.
Is Qwen Max or Qwen3.6 27B better for coding?
Qwen3.6 27B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 38.5 versus 30.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.6 27B does, with 262K tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen Max and Qwen3.6 27B share?
2 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen Max has 23 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 27B has 11.