Compare / Qwen3.6-Plus vs Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)
Qwen3.6-Plus vs Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 11 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Of the 11 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 14 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-14-7d7cf32c3f6d). See also Alibaba vs xAI, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.6-Plus or Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)? The short answer
They score and cost about the same: pick on the results below that match your work.
- Qwen3.6-Plus scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 27.0 against 25.2.
- Qwen3.6-Plus is newer: released 31 Mar 2026, against 10 Mar 2026 for Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning).
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Plus does better for writing and sticking to the facts; Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) for reasoning and knowledge.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Plus | Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 25.2 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | – |
| Released | 31 Mar 2026 (newer) | 10 Mar 2026 |
| 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 | Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 63 · 74 of 244 measured | 27.0 | 25.2 |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 58 · 56 of 231 measured | 88.2% | 88.5% |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 85 · 69 of 243 measured | 27.8% | 32.4% |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 38 · 59 of 76 measured | 44.1% | 30.2% |
| UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results | ||
| Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 49 · 58 of 230 measured | 58.2thinking reasoning | 55.3 |
| Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 25 · 202 of 230 measured | 8.0%thinking reasoning | 46.0% |
| Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 96 · 164 of 230 measured | 0.35no reasoning | 0.33 |
Show all 11 results (4 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 29 · 2 of 195 measured | 75.2% | 82.9% |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 55 · 121 of 234 measured | 78.3% | 67.7% |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 23 · 34 of 190 measured | 43.9% | 40.9% |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 10 of 193 measured | 97.7% | 96.5% |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Plus better than Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)?
They score and cost about the same: pick on the results below that match your work.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Plus or Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)?
Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) ranks 68 of 200 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 69 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Plus or Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 55 of 189 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 60 for Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning).
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Plus or Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning)?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 81 of 153 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 128 for Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning).
Run Qwen3.6-Plus and Grok 4.20 (0309, reasoning) on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.