Compare / Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs GPT-5.6 Luna
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs GPT-5.6 Luna
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 13 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 13 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-5.6 Luna? The short answer
Pick GPT-5.6 Luna: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 37.3 against 28.4) and costs less.
- GPT-5.6 Luna is cheaper: $0.45 against $2.31 per million tokens, 5.1 times less.
- GPT-5.6 Luna scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 37.3 against 28.4.
- GPT-5.6 Luna is newer: released 9 Jul 2026, against 20 Apr 2026 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Max-Preview does better for agents and tool use and sticking to the facts; GPT-5.6 Luna for reasoning and knowledge.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Max-Preview | GPT-5.6 Luna | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $1.03 in · $6.16 out | $0.20 in · $1.20 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $2.31 | $0.45 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $0.45 (Azure) |
| Cached input, per million | – | $0.020 cached input |
| Intelligence Index | 28.4 | 37.3 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens |
| Released | 20 Apr 2026 | 9 Jul 2026 (newer) |
| 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-5.6 Luna |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 51 · 64 of 387 measured | 1,460 | 1,453xhigh reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 51 · 40 of 163 measured | 1,453 | 1,460xhigh reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 64 · 47 of 380 measured | 1,451 | 1,463xhigh reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 57 · 37 of 243 measured | 28.4 | 37.3max reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 55 · 31 of 231 measured | 88.8% | 91.1%max reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 70 · 43 of 242 measured | 30.8% | 39.5%max reasoning |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 21 · 42 of 76 measured | 52.0% | 41.0%max reasoning |
| Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result | ||
| Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 31 · 32 of 58 measured | $4,254 | $4,095 |
Show all 13 results (5 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Max-Preview | GPT-5.6 Luna |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 80 of 385 measured | 1,437 | 1,409xhigh reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 36 · 51 of 338 measured | 1,500 | 1,491xhigh reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 56 · 63 of 387 measured | 1,450 | 1,445xhigh reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 64 of 386 measured | 1,446 | 1,433xhigh reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 1 result | ||
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 33 · 10 of 233 measured | 80.7% | 83.7%max reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Max-Preview better than GPT-5.6 Luna?
Pick GPT-5.6 Luna: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 37.3 against 28.4) and costs less.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
GPT-5.6 Luna is cheaper: $0.45 against $2.31 per million tokens, 5.1 times less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
GPT-5.6 Luna ranks 50 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 81 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
GPT-5.6 Luna ranks 37 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 59 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 41 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 59 for GPT-5.6 Luna.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 45 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 61 for GPT-5.6 Luna.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or GPT-5.6 Luna?
GPT-5.6 Luna: 1,050,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
Run Qwen3.6-Max-Preview and GPT-5.6 Luna on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.