Compare / Qwen3.6-Plus vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)
Qwen3.6-Plus vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 17 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Of the 17 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 Google, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.6-Plus or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)? The short answer
Pick Qwen3.6-Plus: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 15.5) at about the same price.
- Qwen3.6-Plus scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 27.0 against 15.5.
- Qwen3.6-Plus is newer: released 31 Mar 2026, against 25 Sep 2025 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025).
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Plus does better for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Plus | Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.33 in · $1.95 out | Not on sale |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.73 | – |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | – |
| Intelligence Index | 27.0 | 15.5 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | – |
| Released | 31 Mar 2026 (newer) | 25 Sep 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.
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-Plus | Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 133 of 387 measured | 1,443 | 1,403 |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 84 · 105 of 163 measured | 1,438 | 1,425 |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 75 · 135 of 380 measured | 1,446 | 1,403 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 62 · 125 of 243 measured | 27.0 | 15.5thinking reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 58 · 111 of 231 measured | 88.2% | 79.3%thinking reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 84 · 131 of 242 measured | 27.8% | 13.8%thinking reasoning |
| UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results | ||
| Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 49 · 89 of 230 measured | 58.2thinking reasoning | 44.9no reasoning |
| Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 25 · 111 of 230 measured | 8.0%thinking reasoning | 20.0%no reasoning |
| Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 96 · 117 of 230 measured | 0.35no reasoning | 0.35thinking reasoning |
Show all 17 results (8 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 82 · 120 of 385 measured | 1,407 | 1,381 |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 68 · 123 of 338 measured | 1,476 | 1,432 |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 74 · 124 of 387 measured | 1,435 | 1,400 |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 116 of 386 measured | 1,423 | 1,394 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 29 · 99 of 195 measured | 75.2% | 52.3%thinking reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 54 · 105 of 233 measured | 78.3% | 71.0%thinking reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 23 · 105 of 190 measured | 43.9% | 16.7%thinking reasoning |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 108 of 193 measured | 97.7% | 45.6%thinking reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Plus better than Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)?
Pick Qwen3.6-Plus: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 15.5) at about the same price.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Plus or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 67 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 111 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025).
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Plus or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 54 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 95 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025).
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Plus or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025)?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 80 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 111 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025).
Run Qwen3.6-Plus and Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-2025) on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.