Qwen3.6 Plus vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads Qwen3.6 Plus on coding, 61.1 to 44.1 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Qwen3.6 Plus costs 1.4x less per output token ($1.95 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 38 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen3.6 Plus or Step 5 Preview: which to pick
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 44.1 for Qwen3.6 Plus.
Pick Qwen3.6 Plus for output tokens 1.4x cheaper ($1.95 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: hard prompts in English or LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 38
- Qwen3.6 Plus only
- 45
- Step 5 Preview only
- 23
- 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
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview scores 61.1 against 44.1.
3 and 4 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 27.0.
Same board, both measured
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
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3.6 Plus
Qwen3.6 Plus $0.0013, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 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, Step 5 Preview 61.1 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 19.8 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Qwen3.6 Plus 25.6% against Step 5 Preview 70.4%, 44.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3.6 Plus $1.95 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 1.4x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3.6 Plus takes 1M tokens, Step 5 Preview 1.05M.
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 | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 8 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 4 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 3 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 3 | ||
| General | 4 | 11 | ||
| All shared boards | 6 | 32 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index08
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1461 | 1567 | Step 5 Preview |
| AA Coding Index | 54.5 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| 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 |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 25.6% | 70.4% | Step 5 Preview |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 11.1% | 39.0% | Step 5 Preview |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 53.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| ALE-Bench | 670.1 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1467 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1462 | 1473 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1454 | 1583 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1463 | 1556 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1472 | 1550 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 27.0 | 43.7 | Step 5 Preview |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 147.3 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 72.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 27.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 40.9% | 50.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 7.7% | 27.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 14.9% | 40.4% | Step 5 Preview |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 32.9% | 57.1% | Step 5 Preview |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 29.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 97.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $5,115 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 87.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 84.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 88.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 27.8% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 | 1461 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1454 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1455 | 1454 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1308 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | 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 |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1449 | 1458 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1448 | 1460 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | 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 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1442 | 1439 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1437 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1430 | 1435 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | 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 |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index411
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 63.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| 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% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 78.3% | 88.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 | 1440 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1424 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1404 | 1409 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1445 | 1447 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1424 | 1428 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1477 | 1500 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: German | 1451 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1390 | 1383 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1379 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1455 | 1438 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1432 | 1441 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1434 | 1433 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1433 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1438 | 1437 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1439 | 1449 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1418 | 1425 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1402 | 1412 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1290 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1282 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Plus | Step 5 Preview | 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
Qwen3.6 Plus costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3.6 Plus costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3.6 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 | Qwen3.6 Plus | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | StepFun |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | April 2, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.325 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.95 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 44.1 | 61.1 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.19 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.6 Plus better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 44.1 for Qwen3.6 Plus. Pick Qwen3.6 Plus for output tokens 1.4x cheaper ($1.95 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: hard prompts in English or LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Plus or Step 5 Preview?
Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.325 per million input tokens and $1.95 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview costs $1.00 and $2.70. Cost per solved task is known for Qwen3.6 Plus only.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 Plus or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.6 Plus vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
38 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen3.6 Plus's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Step 5 Preview's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.