API cost decision in 10 seconds

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B vs GLM 4.6V

Pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T10:03:26Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T13:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is estimated at $0.64 vs $0.75 for GLM 4.6V, saving $0.11 (14.8% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-35B-A3B

Context-first pickQwen3.5-35B-A3B

Sample savings$0.1114.8%

10x traffic gap$1.11

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1.11. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors Qwen3.5-35B-A3B, balanced workload favors Qwen3.5-35B-A3B, and output-heavy chatbot favors GLM 4.6V.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	GLM 4.6V
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	$1.2	$1.95
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	$1.14	$1.2
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	GLM 4.6V	$5.14	$4.8

Cheaper input Qwen3.5-35B-A3B $0.139 vs $0.3 / 1M

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is $0.16 cheaper per 1M input tokens (53.7% lower; 2.16x difference).

Cheaper output GLM 4.6V $1 vs $0.9 / 1M

GLM 4.6V is $0.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (10% lower; 1.11x difference).

Larger context Qwen3.5-35B-A3B 262.14K vs 131.07K

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-35B-A3B $0.64 vs $0.75

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is $0.11 cheaper on the standard workload (14.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B Calculating… Estimated API cost

GLM 4.6V Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has the lower input price; GLM 4.6V has the lower output price; Qwen3.5-35B-A3B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.64 for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B and $0.75 for GLM 4.6V.

Best Fit

Choose Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.

Choose GLM 4.6V when you care most about lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is estimated at $0.64 vs $0.75 for GLM 4.6V, saving $0.11 (14.8% lower).
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is $0.11 cheaper on the standard workload (14.8% lower).
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is $0.16 cheaper per 1M input tokens (53.7% lower; 2.16x difference).
GLM 4.6V is $0.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (10% lower; 1.11x difference).
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B (Qwen)	GLM 4.6V (Z.ai)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.139	$0.3
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$1	$0.9
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.64	$0.75
Context Window	262.14K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-02-25	2025-12-08

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is estimated at $0.64 vs $0.75 for GLM 4.6V, saving $0.11 (14.8% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	GLM 4.6V	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct can replace Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
Qwen3.5-9B can replace Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 sample workload cost.

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Qwen catalog

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Z.ai catalog

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Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

The Qwen3.5 Series 35B-A3B is a native vision-language model designed with a hybrid architecture that integrates linear attention mechanisms and a sparse mixture-of-experts model, achieving higher inference efficiency. Its overall...

GLM 4.6V

GLM-4.6V is a large multimodal model designed for high-fidelity visual understanding and long-context reasoning across images, documents, and mixed media. It supports up to 128K tokens, processes complex page layouts...