Qwen3.6 Flash vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Updated October 21, 2026. No benchmark has tested both models yet. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $1.125
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- 9.6
- Output $/M
- $0.44
Decision reading
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Qwen3.6 Flash has the edge where the context window is larger, 1M against 262K tokens.
No benchmark has tested both yet. Qwen3.6 Flash has results on ALE-Bench, Epoch Capabilities Index and GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run); Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct on SWE-bench Verified, SWE-bench Lite and LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run). Compare them on price and context instead.
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
No call
Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a AA Intelligence Index result, 9.6.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a Design Arena: websites result, 1087.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.6 Flash
Qwen3.6 Flash takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Qwen3.6 Flash $0.0008, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.0003 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3.6 Flash not benchmarked, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- None yet: no category has been tested on both models.
- Widest single gap
- None yet: no benchmark has tested both models.
- Output price
- Qwen3.6 Flash $1.125 against Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.44 per million output tokens, 2.6x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3.6 Flash takes 1M tokens, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 262K.
Benchmark by benchmark
Every board either model has a result on, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale. Only one model is measured on each, so no row names a leader.
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index5 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 60.4% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | Not measured | 49.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 40.3% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 15.2% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| ALE-Bench | 326.4 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 9.6 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.9 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 34.5% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 51.6% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 3.8% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| SimpleBench | 35.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | 12.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 18.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 29.0 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 29.0% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 84.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 22.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 70.6% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 15.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1087 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1046 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1085 | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards measured
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| DTBench | 77.1% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMCA | 31.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 42 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 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B 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 | Qwen3.6 Flash | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | April 27, 2026 | July 31, 2025 |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.1875 | $0.11 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.125 | $0.44 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.6 Flash better than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Qwen3.6 Flash has the edge where the context window is larger, 1M against 262K tokens.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Flash or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3.6 Flash costs $0.1875 per million input tokens and $1.125 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.11 and $0.44. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 Flash or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3.6 Flash, with 1M tokens against 262K.
Has any benchmark tested both Qwen3.6 Flash and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?
No benchmark has tested both yet. Qwen3.6 Flash has results on ALE-Bench, Epoch Capabilities Index and GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run); Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct on SWE-bench Verified, SWE-bench Lite and LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run). Compare them on price and context instead. Data as of October 21, 2026.