# Qwen3 Max vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 42.3 on the Noometry Index. Step 3.5 Flash costs 16× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/qwen3-max-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 18

## Summary

- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3 Max scores higher in 6 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 2 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3 Max leads 48.1 to 39.6.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $1.20 / $6 for Qwen3 Max.
- Qwen3 Max accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 43.7 | 42.3 |
| Rank | 87 | 116 |
| Context | 262K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $1.20 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $6 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Qwen3 Max: 43.0 (#93)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1456 | 1436 |
| ALE-Bench | 370.45 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Qwen3 Max: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Vending-Bench 2 | 71.56 | — |

## Reasoning

- Qwen3 Max: 22.6 (#190)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | 30.1% | 28.4% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1448 | 1411 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 72.5% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 4% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 5% | — |
| DTBench | 82.1% | — |
| LMCA | 28.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.38 | — |

## Math

- Qwen3 Max: 38.7 (#131)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1446 | 1408 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 18.9% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 73.3% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 97.1% | — |

## Knowledge

- Qwen3 Max: 48.1 (#78)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1455 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 72.6% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 48.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Qwen3 Max: 53.7 (#62)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1429 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1478 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1449 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1463 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1397 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1399 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1428 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1462 | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Qwen3 Max: 74.8 (#87)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1419 | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Qwen3 Max: 41.6 (#134)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1438 | 1402 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 66.7% | — |
| CL-bench | 14.5% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Qwen3 Max: 62.4 (#76)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

| Benchmark | Qwen3 Max | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1439 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1402 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1446 | 1405 |

## FAQ

### Is Qwen3 Max better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 42.3 on the Noometry Index. Step 3.5 Flash costs 16× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Qwen3 Max 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 Max lists at $1.20 and $6.

### Is Qwen3 Max or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (43.0 vs 42.4); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max does, with 262K tokens against 256K.

### How many benchmarks do Qwen3 Max and Step 3.5 Flash share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3 Max has 33 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.