Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $1.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (88% lower; 8.33x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Qwen3.6 35B A3B vs GPT-5.1
Pick Qwen3.6 35B A3B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.1 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 Qwen3.6 35B A3B for lower cost; pick GPT-5.1 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.6 35B A3B is estimated at $0.65 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1, saving $5.6 (89.6% lower).
Cost-first pickQwen3.6 35B A3B
Context-first pickGPT-5.1
Sample savings$5.689.6%
10x traffic gap$56
GPT-5.1 has more context, but Qwen3.6 35B A3B saves $5.6 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $56. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Qwen3.6 35B A3B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | $1.25 | $11.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | $1.15 | $11.25 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | $5.15 | $51.25 |
Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
GPT-5.1 has 137.86K more context (1.53x larger).
Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $5.6 cheaper on the standard workload (89.6% 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
Qwen3.6 35B A3B has the lower input price; Qwen3.6 35B A3B has the lower output price; GPT-5.1 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.6 35B A3B 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 $6.25 for GPT-5.1.
Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
Choose GPT-5.1 when you care most about larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.6 35B A3B is estimated at $0.65 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1, saving $5.6 (89.6% lower).
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $5.6 cheaper on the standard workload (89.6% lower).
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $1.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (88% lower; 8.33x difference).
- Qwen3.6 35B A3B is $9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
- GPT-5.1 has 137.86K more context (1.53x larger).
| Feature | Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Qwen) | GPT-5.1 (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.15 | $1.25 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $1 | $10 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.65 | $6.25 |
| Context Window | 262.14K | 400K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.6 35B A3B is estimated at $0.65 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1, saving $5.6 (89.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Qwen3.6 35B A3B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | GPT-5.1 | 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.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
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Cheaper alternatives
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Open OpenAI 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...
GPT-5.1 is the latest frontier-grade model in the GPT-5 series, offering stronger general-purpose reasoning, improved instruction adherence, and a more natural conversational style compared to GPT-5. It uses adaptive reasoning...