Model comparison
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.1 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.6 Max Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 4 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 4 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3.6 Max Preview in 4 categories; 4 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads 52.2 to 15.3.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 7.4% for Qwen2.5 32B Instruct and 91.1% for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is cheaper at $0.70 / $2.80 per million input/output tokens, against $1.30 / $7.80 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
- Qwen2.5 32B Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 29.7 | 51.1 |
| Released | 2024-09 | 2026-04-20 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 8K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.70 | $1.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.80 | $7.80 |
| Results tracked | 7 | 29 |
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Category by category
Coding Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 38.1 (#165), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 48.6 (#50)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | — | 76.7% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1482 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 45% | — |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1472 |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 52.3% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —, Qwen3.6 Max Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 4,254 |
Reasoning Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 18.5 (#262), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 40.8 (#47)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 20% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 128.52 | 149.27 |
| SimpleBench | — | 63% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 74.1% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1457 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 19% |
| DTBench | — | 87.2% |
| LMCA | — | 42.5% |
Math Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 15.3 (#289), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 52.2 (#40)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 7.4% | 91.1% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1465 |
| MATH Level 5 | 56.1% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 23.1% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | — | 4.2% |
Knowledge Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 24.9 (#259), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 57.6 (#35)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 46.1% | 87.4% |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 52% |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1476 |
Multilingual Not comparable
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —, Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 54.3 (#46)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1436 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1487 |
| LMArena French | — | 1449 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1444 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1452 |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —, Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 75.8 (#51)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1437 |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —, Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 44.6 (#59)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1457 |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —, Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 64.0 (#58)
| Benchmark | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1447 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1435 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1456 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen2.5 32B Instruct better than Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.1 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.6 Max Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 32B Instruct or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is cheaper. It lists at $0.70 per million input tokens and $2.80 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 Max Preview lists at $1.30 and $7.80.
Is Qwen2.5 32B Instruct or Qwen3.6 Max Preview better for coding?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.6 versus 38.1 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen2.5 32B Instruct and Qwen3.6 Max Preview share?
4 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct has 7 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 Max Preview has 29.