Compare / Qwen3.6-Plus vs DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus

Qwen3.6-Plus vs DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 18 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3.6-Plus Released 31 Mar 2026 · $0.33 in · $1.95 out
DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus Released 22 Sep 2025 · $0.27 in · $1.00 out
Qwen3.6-Plus wins 124 too close to callDeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus wins 2

Of the 18 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 DeepSeek, every model from both labs.

Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus? The short answer

Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 14.8). Pick DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus if cost matters more: it costs 38% less per token.

  • DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper: $0.45 against $0.73 per million tokens, 38% less.
  • Qwen3.6-Plus scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 27.0 against 14.8.
  • Qwen3.6-Plus is newer: released 31 Mar 2026, against 22 Sep 2025 for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Plus does better for reasoning and knowledge and writing.

Head to head

27.0
Intelligence Index
14.8
$0.73
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$0.45
1,000,000
Context window, tokens
163,840

Every fact side by side

Qwen3.6-PlusDeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus
Price per million tokens$0.33 in · $1.95 out$0.27 in · $1.00 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.73$0.45
Cheapest host, blended–$0.45 (SiliconFlow, FP8)
Intelligence Index27.014.8
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window1,000,000 tokens163,840 tokens
Released31 Mar 2026 (newer)22 Sep 2025
WeightsClosedOpen
Developer based inChinaChina

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 63 of 164 88 of 164
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 67 of 198 109 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 54 of 188 81 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 80 of 152 not measured

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-PlusDeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 115 of 387 measured 1,443 1,417thinking reasoning
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 75 · 103 of 380 measured 1,446 1,423thinking reasoning
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 82 · 87 of 385 measured 1,407 1,405
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 62 · 129 of 243 measured 27.0 14.8thinking reasoning
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 58 · 112 of 231 measured 88.2% 79.2%thinking reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 84 · 121 of 242 measured 27.8% 16.4%thinking reasoning
UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results
Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 49 · 64 of 230 measured 58.2thinking reasoning 54.0thinking reasoning
Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 25 · 174 of 230 measured 8.0%thinking reasoning 32.0%thinking reasoning
Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 96 · 43 of 230 measured 0.35no reasoning 0.37thinking reasoning
Show all 18 results (9 more)
MeasureQwen3.6-PlusDeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 2 results
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 74 · 93 of 387 measured 1,435 1,420thinking reasoning
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 88 of 386 measured 1,423 1,412thinking reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 7 results
Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 47 · 68 of 130 measured 61.4% 44.9%thinking reasoning
τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 48 · 47 of 121 measured 20.8% 21.0%thinking reasoning
Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 50 · 69 of 131 measured 54.5 43.5thinking reasoning
IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 29 · 86 of 195 measured 75.2% 57.0%thinking reasoning
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 54 · 113 of 233 measured 78.3% 69.3%thinking reasoning
Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 23 · 63 of 190 measured 43.9% 31.8%no reasoning
τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 118 of 193 measured 97.7% 37.1%no reasoning

Quick answers

Is Qwen3.6-Plus better than DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 14.8). Pick DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus if cost matters more: it costs 38% less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper: $0.45 against $0.73 per million tokens, 38% less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 63 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 88 for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 67 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 109 for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 54 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 81 for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Plus or DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus?

Qwen3.6-Plus: 1,000,000 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus.

Run Qwen3.6-Plus and DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus on your own prompt

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