# Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 37.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 40.6 to 34.9.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $1.50 / $7.50 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct.
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 256K.

## Snapshot

| | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 37.7 | 41.7 |
| Rank | 186 | 116 |
| Context | 262K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $1.50 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $7.50 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 36.2 (#199)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1413 | 1436 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 55.4% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1275 | — |
| GSO | 4.9% | — |
| WeirdML | 41.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 461.45 | — |
| AlgoTune | 1.44 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 23.7 (#116)
- Step 3.5 Flash: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 27.2% | — |

## Reasoning

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 24.7 (#141)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1372 | 1411 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 49.5% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |

## Math

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 34.9 (#151)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1364 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |

## Knowledge

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 36.4 (#159)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1337 | 1422 |

## Multilingual

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 47.8 (#143)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1345 | 1386 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1356 | 1448 |
| LMArena French | 1394 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1324 | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1309 | 1353 |
| LMArena Korean | 1307 | 1350 |
| LMArena Russian | 1367 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1360 | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 71.8 (#142)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1356 | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 42.0 (#126)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1379 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 55.5 (#142)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

| Benchmark | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1356 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1333 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1365 | 1405 |

## FAQ

### Is Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 37.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct lists at $1.50 and $7.50.

### Is Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.7 versus 36.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct does, with 262K tokens against 256K.

### How many benchmarks do Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct and Step 3.5 Flash share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has 25 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.