Model comparison
Qwen Plus vs Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 13 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)
StepFunSummary
- They share 13 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen Plus scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 42.6 to 23.3.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $1.20 for Qwen Plus.
- Qwen Plus accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 37.1 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2024-01-25 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 256K |
| Max output | 33K | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.20 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 20 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 38.9 (#167), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1328 | 1436 |
Reasoning Qwen Plus leads
Qwen Plus: 28.4 (#107), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1317 | 1411 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 63.3% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| DTBench | 81.1% | — |
| LMCA | 24% | — |
Math Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 23.3 (#271), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1326 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 17.8% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 65.3% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1.7% | — |
Knowledge Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 27.4 (#251), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1328 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 48.1% | — |
Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 45.1 (#175), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1310 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1347 | 1447 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1251 | 1354 |
| LMArena Russian | 1323 | 1385 |
| LMArena French | — | 1421 |
| LMArena German | — | 1405 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1352 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1419 |
Instruction Following Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 68.8 (#181), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1303 | 1385 |
Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 40.3 (#158), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1324 | 1402 |
Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Plus: 52.2 (#176), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1326 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1293 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1336 | 1405 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen Plus better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Qwen Plus or Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Qwen Plus lists at $0.40 and $1.20.
Is Qwen Plus or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?
Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 38.9 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen Plus does, with 1M tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen Plus and Step 3.5 Flash share?
13 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen Plus has 20 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.