Compare / Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs Grok 4.6

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs Grok 4.6

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.

AlibabaQwen3.6-Max-Preview Released 20 Apr 2026 · $1.03 in · $6.16 out
xAIGrok 4.6 Released 12 Aug 2026 · $2.00 in · $6.00 out
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview wins 17 too close to callGrok 4.6 wins 5

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 xAI, every model from both labs.

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Grok 4.6? The short answer

Pick Grok 4.6 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 44.3 against 28.4). Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview if cost matters more: it costs 23% less per token.

  • Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.00 per million tokens, 23% less.
  • Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 44.3 against 28.4.
  • Grok 4.6 is newer: released 12 Aug 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 sticking to the facts; Grok 4.6 for agents and tool use and reasoning and knowledge.

Head to head

28.4
Intelligence Index
44.3
$2.31
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$3.00
262,144
Context window, tokens
500,000

Every fact side by side

Qwen3.6-Max-PreviewGrok 4.6
Price per million tokens$1.03 in · $6.16 out$2.00 in · $6.00 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$2.31$3.00
Cheapest host, blended–$3.00 (xAI)
Cached input, per million–$0.50 cached input
Intelligence Index28.444.3
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window262,144 tokens500,000 tokens
Released20 Apr 202612 Aug 2026 (newer)
WeightsClosedClosed
Developer based inChinathe 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.

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 81 of 164 10 of 164
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects not measured 16 of 51
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 59 of 198 13 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 41 of 188 44 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 45 of 152 56 of 152

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.

MeasureQwen3.6-Max-PreviewGrok 4.6
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 51 · 62 of 387 measured 1,460 1,454high reasoning
Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 51 · 62 of 163 measured 1,453 1,449high reasoning
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 64 · 72 of 380 measured 1,451 1,447high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 57 · 16 of 243 measured 28.4 44.3high reasoning
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 55 · 3 of 231 measured 88.8% 94.9%high reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 70 · 22 of 242 measured 30.8% 44.1%xhigh reasoning
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result
Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 21 · 26 of 76 measured 52.0% 49.3%high reasoning
Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result
Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 31 · 6 of 58 measured $4,254 $9,047
Show all 13 results (5 more)
MeasureQwen3.6-Max-PreviewGrok 4.6
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 43 of 385 measured 1,437 1,445high reasoning
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 36 · 52 of 338 measured 1,500 1,491high reasoning
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 56 · 53 of 387 measured 1,450 1,451high reasoning
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 52 of 386 measured 1,446 1,445high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 1 result
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 33 · 31 of 233 measured 80.7% 81.0%medium reasoning

Quick answers

Is Qwen3.6-Max-Preview better than Grok 4.6?

Pick Grok 4.6 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 44.3 against 28.4). Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview if cost matters more: it costs 23% less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Grok 4.6?

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.00 per million tokens, 23% less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Grok 4.6?

Grok 4.6 ranks 10 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 Grok 4.6?

Grok 4.6 ranks 13 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 Grok 4.6?

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 41 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 44 for Grok 4.6.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Grok 4.6?

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview ranks 45 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 56 for Grok 4.6.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Grok 4.6?

Grok 4.6: 500,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Run Qwen3.6-Max-Preview and Grok 4.6 on your own prompt

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