Granite 4.1 8B is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (66.7% lower; 3x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs NewGranite 4.1 8B
Pick Granite 4.1 8B for lower cost; pick Qwen3.6 35B A3B only if the larger context window matters more.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Granite 4.1 8B for lower cost; pick Qwen3.6 35B A3B only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $0.65 for Qwen3.6 35B A3B, saving $0.55 (84.6% lower).
Cost-first pickGranite 4.1 8B
Context-first pickQwen3.6 35B A3B
Sample savings$0.5584.6%
10x traffic gap$5.5
Qwen3.6 35B A3B has more context, but Granite 4.1 8B saves $0.55 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $5.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Granite 4.1 8B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | Granite 4.1 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Granite 4.1 8B | $1.25 | $0.3 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Granite 4.1 8B | $1.15 | $0.15 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Granite 4.1 8B | $5.15 | $0.55 |
Granite 4.1 8B is $0.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
Qwen3.6 35B A3B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).
Granite 4.1 8B is $0.55 cheaper on the standard workload (84.6% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
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
Granite 4.1 8B has the lower input price; Granite 4.1 8B has the lower output price; Qwen3.6 35B A3B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Granite 4.1 8B is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.65 for Qwen3.6 35B A3B and $0.1 for Granite 4.1 8B.
Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B when you care most about larger context window.
Choose Granite 4.1 8B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $0.65 for Qwen3.6 35B A3B, saving $0.55 (84.6% lower).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $0.55 cheaper on the standard workload (84.6% lower).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (66.7% lower; 3x difference).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $0.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).
| Feature | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Qwen) | NewGranite 4.1 8B (IBM) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.15 | $0.05 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $1 | $0.1 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.65 | $0.1 |
| Context Window | 262.14K | 131.07K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #76 | #189 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Granite 4.1 8B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $0.65 for Qwen3.6 35B A3B, saving $0.55 (84.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Granite 4.1 8B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Granite 4.1 8B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3.6 35B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3.6 35B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen2.5 7B Instruct can replace Qwen3.6 35B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
- Qwen3.5-9B can replace Qwen3.6 35B A3B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.
- 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.
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $0.3 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
- Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsQwen catalog
Review all tracked Qwen models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Qwen modelsIBM catalog
Check other IBM models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open IBM modelsQwen3.6-35B-A3B is an open-weight multimodal model from Alibaba Cloud with 35 billion total parameters and 3 billion active parameters per token. It uses a hybrid sparse mixture-of-experts architecture combining Gated...
Granite 4.1 8B is a dense, decoder-only 8-billion-parameter language model from IBM, part of the Granite 4.1 family. It supports a 131K-token context window and is designed for enterprise tasks...