Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Qwen3.6 Plus leads Qwen3 Coder Next on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 27.0 to 9.2, and Qwen3 Coder Next costs 2.4x less per output token ($0.80 vs $1.95 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 8 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen3.6 Plus or Qwen3 Coder Next: which to pick
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a coding score, 44.1 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen3 Coder Next has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Qwen3 Coder Next for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($0.80 vs $1.95 per million).
- Shared results
- 8
- Qwen3.6 Plus only
- 75
- Qwen3 Coder Next only
- 3
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 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 Qwen3.6 Plus has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.6 Plus
Qwen3.6 Plus leads, 27.0 against 9.2.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Qwen3 Coder Next has a AA Agentic Index result, 0.9.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a GPQA Diamond result, 87.4%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a AIME result, 94.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a MMLU Pro result, 87.7%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a Design Arena: websites result, 1243.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.6 Plus
Qwen3.6 Plus takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 Coder Next
Qwen3.6 Plus $0.0013, Qwen3 Coder Next $0.0005 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has the number, $1.19.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1 from 3 benchmarks, Qwen3 Coder Next not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 35.6 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- IFBench: Qwen3.6 Plus 75.2% against Qwen3 Coder Next 35.2%, 39.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3.6 Plus $1.95 against Qwen3 Coder Next $0.80 per million output tokens, 2.4x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3.6 Plus takes 1M tokens, Qwen3 Coder Next 262K.
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 | Qwen3.6 Plus | Bars | Qwen3 Coder Next | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 2 | 0 | ||
| General | 2 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 8 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index20
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1461 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| AA Coding Index | 54.5 | 36.2 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 86.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 73.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 25.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 11.1% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 53.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 36.2% | Only Qwen3 Coder Next measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.9% | 18.2% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 34.4% | Only Qwen3 Coder Next measured |
| ALE-Bench | 670.1 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1467 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1462 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1454 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1463 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1472 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 27.0 | 9.2 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 147.3 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 0.9 | Only Qwen3 Coder Next measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 40.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 7.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 14.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 32.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 97.7% | 79.5% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $5,115 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 87.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 84.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 88.2% | 73.7% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 27.8% | 10.1% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 88.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Chess puzzles | 14.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 12.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1448 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1454 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1455 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 94.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 93.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 38.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1449 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1448 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 87.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 84.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 51.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 61.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 74.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 36.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 44.1% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1439 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1442 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1437 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1430 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1243 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1233 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1211 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1228 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1202 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1236 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1161 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1113 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 44.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 77.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 51.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| IFBench | 75.2% | 35.2% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 78.3% | 47.0% | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| DTBench | 81.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMCA | 33.1% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| CL-bench | 20.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text | 1436 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1424 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1404 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1445 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1424 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1477 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1451 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1390 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1379 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1455 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1432 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1434 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1433 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1438 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1439 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1418 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1402 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next | 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 Coder Next costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder Next costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder Next 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 Plus | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | April 2, 2026 | February 4, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.325 | $0.12 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.95 | $0.80 |
| Coding index | 44.1 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.19 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.6 Plus better than Qwen3 Coder Next for coding?
Only Qwen3.6 Plus has a coding score, 44.1 on the Vibe Coding Index; Qwen3 Coder Next has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Qwen3 Coder Next for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($0.80 vs $1.95 per million).
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Plus or Qwen3 Coder Next?
Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.325 per million input tokens and $1.95 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder Next costs $0.12 and $0.80. Cost per solved task is known for Qwen3.6 Plus only.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 Plus or Qwen3 Coder Next?
Qwen3.6 Plus, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.6 Plus vs Qwen3 Coder Next comparison based on?
8 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen3.6 Plus's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Qwen3 Coder Next's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.