Model comparison

Qwen2.5-Max vs Qwen3.5-9B

Qwen2.5-Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.1 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 1 shared benchmarks.

Qwen2.5-Max Alibaba (Qwen)

40.1

Rank #142 Confirmed

Qwen3.5-9B Alibaba (Qwen)

33.3

Rank #235 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. Qwen2.5-Max scores higher in 3 categories and Qwen3.5-9B in 1 category; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3.5-9B leads 46.0 to 34.8.
  • Qwen3.5-9B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Qwen2.5-Max and Qwen3.5-9B specifications
Qwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
ProviderAlibaba (Qwen)Alibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index40.133.3
Released2025-01-252026-02-23
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window—262K
Max output—66K
Input $ / M tokens—$0.10
Output $ / M tokens—$0.15
Results tracked2710

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Category by category

Coding Qwen2.5-Max leads

Qwen2.5-Max: 41.2 (#118), Qwen3.5-9B: 35.3 (#213)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
SciCode—27.5%
LiveBench Coding64.4%—
LMArena Coding1359—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Qwen2.5-Max: —, Qwen3.5-9B: 14.4 (#143)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
Terminal-Bench—9.2%

Reasoning Qwen2.5-Max leads

Qwen2.5-Max: 24.6 (#144), Qwen3.5-9B: 22.5 (#178)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
Epoch Capabilities Index132.54139.45
CritPt—0.3%
Chess Puzzles—12%
LiveBench Reasoning51.4%—
LMArena Hard Prompts1360—
DTBench—71.2%
LiveBench Data Analysis67.9%—
LMCA—24.5%
LiveBench62.3%—

Math Too close to call

Qwen2.5-Max: 34.3 (#162), Qwen3.5-9B: 33.5 (#174)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—48.5%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025—61.7%
LiveBench Math58.4%—
LMArena Math1369—

Knowledge Qwen3.5-9B leads

Qwen2.5-Max: 34.8 (#181), Qwen3.5-9B: 46.0 (#77)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
GPQA Diamond—79%
Confabulations21.8%—
LMArena Expert1337—

Multilingual Not comparable

Qwen2.5-Max: 48.3 (#140), Qwen3.5-9B: —

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
LMArena Non-English1352—
LMArena Chinese1382—
LMArena French1396—
LMArena German1350—
LMArena Japanese1299—
LMArena Korean1304—
LMArena Russian1353—
LMArena Spanish1377—

Instruction Following Not comparable

Qwen2.5-Max: 71.5 (#147), Qwen3.5-9B: —

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
LiveBench Instruction Following75.3%—
LMArena Instruction Following1335—

Long Context Not comparable

Qwen2.5-Max: 41.3 (#137), Qwen3.5-9B: —

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
LMArena Longer Query1358—

Writing & Preference Not comparable

Qwen2.5-Max: 55.6 (#141), Qwen3.5-9B: —

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkQwen2.5-MaxQwen3.5-9B
LMArena Text1367—
LMArena Creative Writing1339—
Short-Story Creative Writing72.9%—
LMArena Multi-Turn1364—
LiveBench Language56.3%—

Frequently asked questions

Is Qwen2.5-Max better than Qwen3.5-9B?

Qwen2.5-Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.1 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index.

Is Qwen2.5-Max or Qwen3.5-9B better for coding?

Qwen2.5-Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.2 versus 35.3 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Qwen2.5-Max and Qwen3.5-9B share?

1 benchmark has published results for both models. Qwen2.5-Max has 27 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5-9B has 10.

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