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BenchLM

GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Updated September 29, 2026. Rank cannot separate these two. Price, access, and your workload decide. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty.

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Decision reading

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has the higher public score estimate, 54.95 versus 54.85, but the 90% score intervals overlap. Treat that as a lead, not a settled winner. 4 results are shared. Category rows resting on Estimated evidence or different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Model A
OpenAI logo

OpenAI

54.85/100

Supported · Public rank #62

90% interval 44.6–65.1

Model B
Alibaba logo

Alibaba

54.95/100

Estimated · Public rank #59

90% interval 45.8–64.2

Shared results
4
GPT-5.4 mini only
17
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) only
6
Like-for-like categories
1 / 8
Supported: GPT-5.4 mini · Estimated: Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)How the comparison works

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads on the public coding lane, 47.1 to 36.9, with Supported evidence for both models, although the 90% intervals overlap.

    Confidence: limited
  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    GPT-5.4 mini

    GPT-5.4 mini has the larger documented context window.

    Confidence: documented
Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) is not ranked on the public lane for agentic, so no winner is named for agentic.

    Confidence: limited
  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates
  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates
  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

Which one for a specific job

Choose a job from the LLM Selector's task catalog to see the category row it rests on, under the same basis rules as the table below. A directional row stays directional; choosing a job never creates a winner.

The same task catalog as the LLM Selector. Each job names the evidence surface it rests on; nothing here adds a new score.

36.9GPT-5.4 mini47.1Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Like-for-like · BenchAlign v5.7

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads the like-for-like coding row, although the 90% intervals overlap.

Coding scores combine specific tasks and setups. Match the editor, harness, and effort to your workflow.

Same basis rules as the category table below

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

Too few matched category axes support a radar. The ruled list below shows only shared benchmark results; positions use each benchmark’s normalized display scale when available.

Bars run 0–100 on each benchmark’s normalized display scale

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row shows the public-lane category score for both models: the BenchAlign v5.7 lane for agentic, coding, and knowledge, and the weighted public rows elsewhere, with the same rank each model page reports. A row is like-for-like only when both scores rest on Supported evidence or the same weighted set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner.

Coding

Like-for-like
GPT-5.4 mini
36.9
Supported · #72/143
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
47.1
Supported · #47/143
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 4 vs 5 public rows
Reading
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads · intervals overlap

Agentic

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
34.0
Supported · #71/117
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 6 vs 2 public rows
Reading
Not comparable

Reasoning

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
40.0
Unranked · 4 rankable rows
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 1 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
58.3
#33/50
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 1 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
48.2
Supported · #67/169
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
BenchAlign v5.7 lane · 5 vs 1 public rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
Not ranked
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
88.5
#24/124
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
GPT-5.4 mini
44.3
Unranked · 2 rankable rows
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
41.3
Unranked · 2 rankable rows
Basis
Provisional lane · 2 vs 2 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Ranks count the models scored in each category’s lane, so the agentic, coding, and knowledge denominators (BenchAlign v5.7) differ from the provisional-lane categories. Unranked scores sit on the provisional lane’s scale but never name a winner. Like-for-like rows within 0.5 points read as a practical tie.

Supported evidence per lane · bars run 0–100Methodology

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

GPT-5.4 mini
$0.003
Fits in one request
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
API rate not published
Fits in one request

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has no comparable published API token rate.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

GPT-5.4 mini
$0.051
Fits in one request
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
API rate not published
Fits in one request

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has no comparable published API token rate.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

GPT-5.4 mini
$0.075
Fits in one request
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Cached-input rate unavailable

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has no comparable published API token rate.

Cached input falls back to the list input rate only where a cached rate is unpublished

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

GPT-5.4 mini

$0.075 per 1M cached input tokens

OpenAI pricing

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

No comparable hosted API rate

Provider availability

GPT-5.4 mini

Generally Available · OpenAI Responses API

OpenAI model catalog

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

GPT-5.4 mini

Reasoning

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Reasoning

Weight access

GPT-5.4 mini

Proprietary

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Proprietary

License

GPT-5.4 mini

Proprietary

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

Proprietary

Release date

GPT-5.4 mini

2026-03-17

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)

2026-04-20

If you already use one of these models

Deployment change
The models list different providers, so authentication, endpoint behavior, limits, and feature support may change.
Quality signal
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has the higher public score estimate, 54.95 versus 54.85, but the 90% score intervals overlap.
Workload cost
A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.
Context tradeoff
GPT-5.4 mini has the larger documented window (400K).
Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has the higher public score estimate, 54.95 versus 54.85, but the 90% score intervals overlap. The higher estimate is not a decisive winner because the uncertainty ranges overlap.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads the public coding lane, 47.1 to 36.9, with Supported evidence for both models, although the 90% intervals overlap.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?

Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) is not ranked on the public lane for agentic tasks, so no winner is named for agentic tasks.

Which costs less, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?

Both models do not have comparable published API token rates, so this page does not name a universal price winner.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?

GPT-5.4 mini has the larger documented context window: 400K, compared with 256K.

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence27 rows

Agentic

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    GPT-5.4 mini60%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)65.4%
    Source

    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads this result

  • OSWorld-Verified

    GPT-5.4 mini72.1%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • MCP Atlas

    GPT-5.4 mini57.7%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • Toolathlon

    GPT-5.4 mini42.9%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • τ²-bench results

    GPT-5.4 mini93.4%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)

    GPT-5.4 mini54.7%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • QwenClawBench

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)59.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Coding

  • Vibe Code Bench

    GPT-5.4 mini47.97%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierCode 1.1 Main

    GPT-5.4 mini27.0%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • LiveCodeBench (Vals)

    GPT-5.4 mini81.5%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench (Vals)

    GPT-5.4 mini73.0%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)72.8%
    Source

    GPT-5.4 mini leads this result

  • SWE-bench Pro

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)57.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SciCode

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)47%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • NL2Repo

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)42.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)65.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Reasoning

  • ARC-AGI-1

    GPT-5.4 mini63.70%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • ARC-AGI-2

    GPT-5.4 mini18.9%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

Multimodal

  • MMMU-Pro

    GPT-5.4 mini76.6%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro w/ Python

    GPT-5.4 mini78%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • GPQA

    GPT-5.4 mini88%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE

    GPT-5.4 mini41.5%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE w/o tools

    GPT-5.4 mini28.2%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA Diamond (Vals)

    GPT-5.4 mini83.1%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • MMLU-Pro (Vals)

    GPT-5.4 mini84.6%
    Source
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)—

    Not directly comparable

  • SuperGPQA

    GPT-5.4 mini—
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)73.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Math

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Shared source
    GPT-5.4 mini28.280%
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)23.103%

    GPT-5.4 mini leads this result

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)

    Shared source
    GPT-5.4 mini2.080%
    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)4.167%

    Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) leads this result

27 public results · 4 shared

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Last updated September 29, 2026