Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
GPT-5.5
89
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
72
Verified leaderboard positions: GPT-5.5 #2 · Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) unranked
Pick GPT-5.5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
Agentic
+16.4 difference
Coding
+4.5 difference
Knowledge
+7.5 difference
GPT-5.5
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
$5 / $30
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1M
256K
Pick GPT-5.5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
GPT-5.5 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 89 to 72. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
GPT-5.5's sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 81.8 against 65.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 82.7% to 65.4%. Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
GPT-5.5 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for Qwen 3.6 Max (preview).
GPT-5.5 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 89 to 72. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 82.7% and 65.4%.
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 73.9 versus 66.4. GPT-5.5 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
GPT-5.5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 58.6 versus 54.1. Inside this category, terminalBench2 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
GPT-5.5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.8 versus 65.4. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
For engineers, researchers, and the plain curious — a weekly brief on new models, ranking shifts, and pricing changes.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.