Qwen3.5-35B-A3B vs Qwen3.5-9B
| Signal | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | Delta | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | -- | |
Pricing | 99 | -1 | |
Context window size | 86 | -- | |
Recency | 86 | -2 | |
Output Capacity | 79 | -7 | |
| Overall Result | 0 wins | of 5 | 3 wins |
Score History
40
current score
Tied
right now
40
current score
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Alibaba
Qwen3.5-9B
Alibaba
Qwen3.5-9B saves you $34.50/month
That's $414.00/year compared to Qwen3.5-35B-A3B at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | Qwen3.5-9B | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 40 | -- |
| Rank | #341 | #339 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Quality Rank | #341 | #339 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Adoption Rank | #341 | #339 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Parameters | 35B | 9B | -- |
| Context Window | 262K | 262K | -- |
| Pricing | $0.14/$1.00/M | $0.17/$0.25/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 83 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
| Pricing | 99 | 100 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Context window size | 86 | 86 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
| Recency | 86 | 88 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Output Capacity | 79 | 86 | Qwen3.5-9B |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 40/100 (rank #341), placing it in the top -17% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 40/100 (rank #339), placing it in the top -17% of all 290 models tracked.
With only a 0-point gap, these models are in the same performance tier. The practical difference in output quality is minimal - your choice should depend on pricing, latency requirements, and specific feature needs.
Choose Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when you need:
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Choose Qwen3.5-9B when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Qwen3.5-9B offers 63% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $6.30/month with Qwen3.5-9B vs $17.10/month with Qwen3.5-35B-A3B - a $10.80 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Qwen3.5-9B also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (262K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.25/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (40/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B and Qwen3.5-9B are extremely close in overall performance (only 0 points apart). Your best choice depends entirely on which specific strengths matter most for your use case.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Qwen3.5-9B
63% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Alibaba
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Alibaba
Qwen3.5-9B
Alibaba
Qwen3.5-9B saves you $0.8460/month
That's 58% cheaper than Qwen3.5-35B-A3B at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 262K | 262K |
| Max Output Tokens | 81,920 | 235,929 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Feb 25, 2026 | Mar 10, 2026 |