Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Step 3.5 Flash
Updated October 21, 2026. 35 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B has the edge where what matters is Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 35
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B only
- 17
- Step 3.5 Flash only
- 0
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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
Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash leads, 17.0 against 11.9.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B has a Design Arena: websites result, 1159.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 262K tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B $0.0010, Step 3.5 Flash $0.0003 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B not benchmarked, Step 3.5 Flash not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 50.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B 43.6% against Step 3.5 Flash 94.4%, 50.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B $1.50 against Step 3.5 Flash $0.30 per million output tokens, 5.0x 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 Coder 480B A35B | Bars | Step 3.5 Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 5 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 19 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 35 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 69.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1275 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 58.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 18.9% | 32.6% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Terminal-Bench | 27.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| GSO-Bench | 4.9% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| WeirdML | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| ALE-Bench | 461.4 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1412 | 1436 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1393 | 1434 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1257 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1287 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 11.9 | 17.0 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 43.6% | 94.4% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 61.8% | 83.1% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.5% | 24.5% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1372 | 1411 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1338 | 1421 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1380 | 1421 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 39.3 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 39.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1365 | 1408 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1367 | 1421 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 78.8% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1347 | 1415 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1347 | 1408 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1358 | 1408 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1343 | 1394 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1159 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1113 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1099 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1084 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1143 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index019
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 40.5% | 66.5% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 45.7% | 63.0% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text | 1357 | 1403 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1355 | 1385 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1333 | 1357 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: English | 1359 | 1417 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1346 | 1385 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1357 | 1446 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: German | 1325 | 1405 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1311 | 1353 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1305 | 1351 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: French | 1398 | 1421 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1360 | 1419 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1366 | 1385 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1344 | 1389 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1366 | 1404 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1378 | 1402 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1340 | 1372 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1317 | 1360 | Step 3.5 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B | Step 3.5 Flash | 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
Step 3.5 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash 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 Coder 480B A35B | StepFun Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | StepFun |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | July 23, 2025 | January 29, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.50 | $0.30 |
| 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 Coder 480B A35B better than Step 3.5 Flash for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B has the edge where what matters is Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B or Step 3.5 Flash?
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash costs $0.10 and $0.30. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B or Step 3.5 Flash?
Neither: both take 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Step 3.5 Flash comparison based on?
35 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Step 3.5 Flash's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.