Model comparison

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Step 3.5 Flash

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.1 to 41.7 on the Noometry Index. Step 3.5 Flash costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.6 Max Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified October 10, 2026. 15 shared benchmarks.

Qwen3.6 Max Preview

Alibaba (Qwen)

51.1

Rank #36 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash

StepFun

41.7

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher in 8 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
The widest gap is in reasoning, where Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads 40.8 to 21.2.
The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 74.1% for Qwen3.6 Max Preview and 28.4% for Step 3.5 Flash.
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 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 256K.
Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Step 3.5 Flash specifications
	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
Provider	Alibaba (Qwen)	StepFun
Noometry Index	51.1	41.7
Released	2026-04-20	2026-01-29
Weights	Proprietary	Open
Context window	262K	256K
Max output	66K	256K
Input $ / M tokens	$1.30	$0.10
Output $ / M tokens	$7.80	$0.30
Results tracked	29	19

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Category by category

Coding Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 48.6 (#50), Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

Coding benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding	1472	1436
SWE-bench Verified	76.7%	—
LMArena WebDev	1482	—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: —, Step 3.5 Flash: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
Vending-Bench 2	4,254	—

Reasoning Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 40.8 (#47), Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

Reasoning benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
NYT Connections (extended)	74.1%	28.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts	1457	1411
SimpleBench	63%	—
Chess Puzzles	20%	—
Mystery Game Puzzles	19%	—
DTBench	87.2%	—
LMCA	42.5%	—
Epoch Capabilities Index	149.27	—

Math Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 52.2 (#40), Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

Math benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Math	1465	1408
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions	—	66.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025	91.1%	—
FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set)	23.1%	—
FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1)	4.2%	—

Knowledge Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 57.6 (#35), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

Knowledge benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert	1476	1422
GPQA Diamond	87.4%	—
SimpleQA Verified	52%	—

Multilingual Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 54.3 (#46), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

Multilingual benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English	1436	1386
LMArena Chinese	1487	1448
LMArena French	1449	1421
LMArena Russian	1444	1385
LMArena Spanish	1452	1419
LMArena German	—	1404
LMArena Japanese	—	1353
LMArena Korean	—	1350

Instruction Following Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 75.8 (#51), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

Instruction Following benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following	1437	1385

Long Context Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 44.6 (#59), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

Long Context benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query	1457	1402

Writing & Preference Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads

Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 64.0 (#58), Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 Max Preview	Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text	1447	1403
LMArena Creative Writing	1435	1357
LMArena Multi-Turn	1456	1405

Frequently asked questions

Is Qwen3.6 Max Preview better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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; Qwen3.6 Max Preview lists at $1.30 and $7.80.

Is Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.6 versus 41.7 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview does, with 262K tokens against 256K.

How many benchmarks do Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Step 3.5 Flash share?

15 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.6 Max Preview has 29 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.