Model comparison
Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3.5 Plus
Qwen3.5 Plus is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5-9B costs 8.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.5 Plus's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 6 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 6 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3.5-9B scores higher in 1 category and Qwen3.5 Plus in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Qwen3.5 Plus leads 47.9 to 33.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 61.7% for Qwen3.5-9B and 86.7% for Qwen3.5 Plus.
- Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $2.40 for Qwen3.5 Plus.
- Qwen3.5 Plus accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
- Qwen3.5-9B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 33.3 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2026-02-23 | 2026-02-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 262K | 1M |
| Max output | 66K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.10 | $0.40 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $2.40 |
| Results tracked | 10 | 15 |
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Category by category
Coding Not comparable
Qwen3.5-9B: 35.3 (#213), Qwen3.5 Plus: —
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Qwen3.5-9B: 14.4 (#143), Qwen3.5 Plus: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 9.2% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 0.54 |
Reasoning Qwen3.5 Plus leads
Qwen3.5-9B: 22.5 (#178), Qwen3.5 Plus: 32.0 (#67)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Puzzles | 12% | 22% |
| DTBench | 71.2% | 80.5% |
| LMCA | 24.5% | 36.4% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 139.45 | 146.79 |
| CritPt | 0.3% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 17% |
Math Qwen3.5 Plus leads
Qwen3.5-9B: 33.5 (#174), Qwen3.5 Plus: 47.9 (#55)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 61.7% | 86.7% |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | 48.5% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 21% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | — | 2.1% |
Knowledge Too close to call
Qwen3.5-9B: 46.0 (#77), Qwen3.5 Plus: 46.0 (#78)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 79% | 84.8% |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 25.4% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 10.7% |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen3.5-9B: —, Qwen3.5 Plus: 42.9 (#109)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-9B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| CL-bench | — | 19.8% |
| CL-bench Life | — | 12.4% |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen3.5-9B better than Qwen3.5 Plus?
Qwen3.5 Plus is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5-9B costs 8.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.5 Plus's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5-9B or Qwen3.5 Plus?
Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 Plus lists at $0.40 and $2.40.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.5 Plus does, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3.5 Plus share?
6 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.5-9B has 10 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 Plus has 15.