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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct (Qwen) and Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3.6 35B A3B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#59 vs #191); and Qwen3.6 35B A3B offers the longer context window (262K vs 33K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct leads Qwen3.6 35B A3B for this pair.

Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #59 against #191 (43.5 vs 11.8 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.14/1M against $0.66/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 33K.
  • you want provider choice — 9 listed API providers against 1.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 32.1 against 6.9.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.6 35B A3B was listed 27 April 2026, Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct 11 November 2024.

Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct and Qwen3.6 35B A3B
FieldQwen2.5 Coder 32B InstructQwenQwen3.6 35B A3BQwen
ModelCap Index position#191#59
Index score11.843.5
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.66$0.14
Output price / 1M tokens$1.00$1.00
Context window33K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens33K262K
API providers listed19
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image, Video
First listed11 November 202427 April 2026
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Public benchmark boards where Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B has a published result
BoardQwen2.5 Coder 32B InstructQwen3.6 35B A3BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13421324–1361—Only one result
SWE-benchSWE-bench (Princeton / SWE-agent team)9.0%—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis6.9intelligence-index32.1intelligence-indexQwen3.6 35B A3B

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B: common questions

Is Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct better than Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #59 against #191. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Both list the same output price, $1.00/1M tokens, with input at $0.66/1M and $0.14/1M respectively.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 33K.

Which is better for coding, Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct and Qwen3.6 35B A3B open-weight models?

Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct: Open weights. Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct and Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct and 9 for Qwen3.6 35B A3B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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