Qwen3.5-27B vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
Qwen3.5-27B leads Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 22.9 to 9.6, and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct costs 1.4x less per output token ($1.10 vs $1.56 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 35 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen3.5-27B or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Qwen3.5-27B for work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 35
- Qwen3.5-27B only
- 19
- Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct only
- 6
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 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
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.5-27B
Qwen3.5-27B leads, 22.9 against 9.6.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 262K tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
Qwen3.5-27B $0.0010, Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct $0.0006 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3.5-27B not benchmarked, Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 52.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Qwen3.5-27B 93.9% against Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct 41.5%, 52.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3.5-27B $1.56 against Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct $1.10 per million output tokens, 1.4x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 262K 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 | Qwen3.5-27B | Bars | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 2 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 3 | ||
| General | 9 | 10 | ||
| All shared boards | 16 | 19 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index12
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1358 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 78.4% | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 32.6% | 9.8% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| WeirdML | 39.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| ALE-Bench | 349.4 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1427 | 1440 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1431 | 1447 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1346 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1386 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.9 | 9.6 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.9% | 41.5% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $202 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index32
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 85.8% | 75.9% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.9% | 12.6% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1415 | 1428 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1427 | 1417 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1429 | 1431 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1249 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1256 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | Not measured | 66.7% | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 84.3 | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 84.3% | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1429 | 1440 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1429 | 1434 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| MathArena | 15.8% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 82.4% | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1437 | 1434 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1425 | 1455 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1405 | 1431 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1399 | 1422 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index910
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 75.6% | 60.7% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 77.7% | 63.7% | Qwen3.5-27B |
| DTBench | 82.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMCA | 34.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | Not measured | 55.6% | Only Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text | 1409 | 1417 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1393 | 1388 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1362 | 1333 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Vision | 1241 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1425 | 1421 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1390 | 1407 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1478 | 1460 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: German | 1392 | 1416 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1346 | 1395 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1359 | 1363 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: French | 1410 | 1414 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1407 | 1435 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1390 | 1404 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1375 | 1398 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1410 | 1416 | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1413 | 1402 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1380 | 1355 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1363 | 1349 | Qwen3.5-27B |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1246 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1301 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1246 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1227 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1170 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1210 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1224 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.5-27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | 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
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct 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 | Qwen3.5-27B | Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | February 25, 2026 | September 11, 2025 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.195 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.56 | $1.10 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.5-27B better than Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Qwen3.5-27B for work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5-27B or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3.5-27B costs $0.195 per million input tokens and $1.56 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct costs $0.10 and $1.10. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.5-27B or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?
Neither: both take 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.5-27B vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct comparison based on?
35 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Qwen3.5-27B's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.