Head-to-head comparison across 4benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
MAI-Thinking-1
65
Qwen3.5-27B
62
Verified leaderboard positions: MAI-Thinking-1 #23 · Qwen3.5-27B #21
Pick MAI-Thinking-1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3.5-27B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 262K context window.
Agentic
+5.6 difference
Coding
+8.0 difference
Knowledge
+10.7 difference
Inst. Following
+10.0 difference
MAI-Thinking-1
Qwen3.5-27B
N/A
$0 / $0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
256K
262K
Pick MAI-Thinking-1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3.5-27B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 262K context window.
MAI-Thinking-1 has the cleaner provisional overall profile here, landing at 65 versus 62. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.
MAI-Thinking-1's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 71 against 63. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 46% to 41.6%. Qwen3.5-27B does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Qwen3.5-27B gives you the larger context window at 262K, compared with 256K for MAI-Thinking-1.
MAI-Thinking-1 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 65 to 62. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 46% and 41.6%.
Qwen3.5-27B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.6 versus 69.9. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 71 versus 63. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Qwen3.5-27B has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 51.6 versus 46. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Qwen3.5-27B has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 85. MAI-Thinking-1 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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