Qwen-Plus vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20
Qwen-Plus costs 2.3x less per output token than Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 ($0.78 vs $1.80 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 4 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen-Plus or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: which to pick
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a coding score, 39.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen-Plus has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Qwen-Plus for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($0.78 vs $1.80 per million) and work measured by DTBench, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 4
- Qwen-Plus only
- 24
- Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 only
- 21
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a GPQA Diamond result, 87.4%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a AIME result, 86.0%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a MMLU Pro result, 87.2%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen-Plus
Qwen-Plus $0.0006, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 $0.0012 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has the number, $1.35.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen-Plus not benchmarked, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 39.5 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 68.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- OTIS Mock AIME: Qwen-Plus 17.8% against Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 86.7%, 68.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen-Plus $0.78 against Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 $1.80 per million output tokens, 2.3x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Qwen-Plus | Bars | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| Math | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 3 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.3% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.2% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.7% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 608.9 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1328 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1343 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 146.2 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $1 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 87.4% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 22.8% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 48.1% | 84.8% | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 8.0% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 17.0% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1317 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1328 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1333 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 86.0% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 17.8% | 86.7% | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 |
| MATH level 5 | 65.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1326 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1332 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 87.2% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.1% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.7% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.3% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.8% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 95.2% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 25.4% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1352 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1350 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1349 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1303 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 30.4% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| DTBench | 81.1% | 80.5% | Qwen-Plus |
| LMCA | 24.0% | 36.4% | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 |
| CL-bench | Not measured | 19.8% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| CL-bench Life | Not measured | 12.4% | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1326 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1303 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1292 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1339 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1310 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1347 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1251 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1323 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1336 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1324 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1296 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1270 | Not measured | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Qwen-Plus | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | February 1, 2025 | April 27, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.26 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.78 | $1.80 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 39.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $1.35 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen-Plus better than Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 for coding?
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has a coding score, 39.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen-Plus has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Qwen-Plus for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($0.78 vs $1.80 per million) and work measured by DTBench, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Qwen-Plus or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20?
Qwen-Plus costs $0.26 per million input tokens and $0.78 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 costs $0.30 and $1.80. Cost per solved task is known for Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 only.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen-Plus or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20?
Neither: both take 1M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen-Plus vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 comparison based on?
4 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Qwen-Plus's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.