Compare / Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs GPT-5.1
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs GPT-5.1
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs OpenAI, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1? The short answer
Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 28.4 against 24.7) and costs less.
- Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.44 per million tokens, 33% less.
- Qwen3.6-Max-Preview scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 28.4 against 24.7.
- Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is newer: released 20 Apr 2026, against 13 Nov 2025 for GPT-5.1.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Max-Preview does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Max-Preview | GPT-5.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $1.03 in · $6.16 out | $1.25 in · $10.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $2.31 | $3.44 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $3.44 (Azure) |
| Intelligence Index | 28.4 | 24.7 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| Released | 20 Apr 2026 (newer) | 13 Nov 2025 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
From our research
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Max-Preview | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 51 · 60 of 387 measured | 1,460 | 1,456high reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 51 · 42 of 163 measured | 1,453 | 1,459high reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 64 · 67 of 380 measured | 1,451 | 1,448high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 57 · 79 of 243 measured | 28.4 | 24.7high reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 55 · 64 of 231 measured | 88.8% | 87.3%high reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 70 · 79 of 242 measured | 30.8% | 28.5%high reasoning |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 21 · 29 of 76 measured | 52.0% | 48.0%high reasoning |
| Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result | ||
| Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 31 · 41 of 58 measured | $4,254 | $1,473 |
Show all 16 results (8 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Max-Preview | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 62 of 385 measured | 1,437 | 1,428high reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 36 · 60 of 338 measured | 1,500 | 1,482high reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 56 · 54 of 387 measured | 1,450 | 1,450high reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 60 of 386 measured | 1,446 | 1,438high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 14 · 37 of 195 measured | 76.6% | 72.9%high reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 33 · 38 of 233 measured | 80.7% | 80.0%high reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 23 · 20 of 190 measured | 43.9% | 45.5%high reasoning |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 12 · 67 of 193 measured | 95.9% | 81.9%high reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Max-Preview better than GPT-5.1?
Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 28.4 against 24.7) and costs less.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.44 per million tokens, 33% less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 81 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 85 for GPT-5.1.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 59 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 70 for GPT-5.1.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 41 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 53 for GPT-5.1.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 45 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 63 for GPT-5.1.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.1?
GPT-5.1: 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
Run Qwen3.6-Max-Preview and GPT-5.1 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.