Model comparison
GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen 3.7 Max
OpenAI against Qwen, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.
Catalog record checked September 3, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below
OpenAI
GPT-5.6 Sol
Frontier
Qwen
Qwen 3.7 Max
Frontier
| Specification | GPT-5.6 Sol | Qwen 3.7 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Qwen |
| Tier | Frontier | Frontier |
| Context window | Winner: 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 128K |
| Input / 1M tokens | $4 | Winner: $2.50 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $20 | Winner: $7.50 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Parameters | flagship reasoning + coding model | proprietary MoE |
| Reasoning levels | none, low, medium, high, xhigh, max | low, high, max |
| Modalities | text, image | text, image, video |
| API model id | gpt-5.6-sol | qwen3.7-max |
| Released | July 9, 2026 | May 20, 2026 |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [max] (2026-08-14) | 61 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-08-14) | Not verifiedUnverified | 55 |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-07-09) | 88.8 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| GPQA Diamond (2026-07-09) | 94.6 | Not verifiedUnverified |
Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.
Benchmark receipts
- 2026-08-14: Artificial AnalysisComposite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score. Comparability: directly comparable — AA occasionally rebaselines the index scale between snapshots — a score captured on one date is only comparable to same-snapshot scores (check measuredAt).
- 2026-07-09: OpenAI — GPT-5.6 evals table (vendor)Agentic terminal work: multi-step tasks executed in a sandboxed shell environment. Comparability: comparable with caveat — Scores across Terminal-Bench major versions (v1 vs v2) are NOT comparable; harness configuration (container, time limits) also shifts results.
Pricing tiers: GPT-5.6 Sol: Launch list was $5/$30; cut to $4/$20 on 2026-08-21, promo held at least through 2026-11-21. Cached input $0.40/MTok; batch $2/$10. Knowledge cutoff Feb 16 2026. · Qwen 3.7 Max: Model Studio list $2.50/$7.50 per MTok; a 50%-off promo ($1.25/$3.75) ran at launch. Closed API.
GPT-5.6 Sol
OpenAI's GPT-5.6 flagship for complex reasoning and coding with a 1.05M-token context — top-tier but no longer the agentic-coding leader on the tracked boards.
Best for
- Complex reasoning
- Agentic coding
- Hard knowledge work
Watch out
At $4/$20 per MTok it is the priciest GPT-5.6 tier; 'max' effort and 'ultra' multi-agent mode multiply token use.
Qwen 3.7 Max
Qwen 3.7 Max is Alibaba's previous-generation proprietary flagship with a 1M-token context.
Best for
- API-only multimodal
- Long-context
- Enterprise
Watch out
Closed/proprietary; no published weights. Succeeded by Qwen 3.8 Max.
When the cheaper one wins
Qwen 3.7 Max is cheaper on output at $7.50 per million tokens against $20 for GPT-5.6 Sol — about 2.7×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.
Run the model pickerEvidence confidence: High
How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.
- Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
- 5/5 core specs verified on both sides — All core specifications verified for both models.
- 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
- Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 8 days ago.
- Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.
Source receipts
Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.
- GPT-5.6 Sol: OpenAI — GPT-5.6 (accessed 2026-08-29)
- GPT-5.6 Sol: OpenAI API pricing (gpt-5.6-sol $4/$20) (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Qwen 3.7 Max: Alibaba Cloud — Qwen3.7: The Agent Frontier (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Qwen 3.7 Max: Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (accessed 2026-08-29)
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- Claude Fable 5.1 vs Qwen 3.7 Max
Diving deeper on one model? GPT-5.6 Sol · Qwen 3.7 Max
Common questions
GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen 3.7 Max
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Is GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen 3.7 Max cheaper for input?
Qwen 3.7 Max is cheaper at $2.50 per million input tokens, against $4 for GPT-5.6 Sol — roughly 1.6× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GPT-5.6 Sol has tiered pricing: Launch list was $5/$30; cut to $4/$20 on 2026-08-21, promo held at least through 2026-11-21. Cached input $0.40/MTok; batch $2/$10. Knowledge cutoff Feb 16 2026. Qwen 3.7 Max has tiered pricing: Model Studio list $2.50/$7.50 per MTok; a 50%-off promo ($1.25/$3.75) ran at launch. Closed API.
Is GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen 3.7 Max cheaper for output?
Qwen 3.7 Max is cheaper at $7.50 per million output tokens, against $20 for GPT-5.6 Sol — roughly 2.7× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GPT-5.6 Sol has tiered pricing: Launch list was $5/$30; cut to $4/$20 on 2026-08-21, promo held at least through 2026-11-21. Cached input $0.40/MTok; batch $2/$10. Knowledge cutoff Feb 16 2026. Qwen 3.7 Max has tiered pricing: Model Studio list $2.50/$7.50 per MTok; a 50%-off promo ($1.25/$3.75) ran at launch. Closed API.
Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen 3.7 Max?
GPT-5.6 Sol accepts 1.05M tokens against 1M for Qwen 3.7 Max. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do GPT-5.6 Sol and Qwen 3.7 Max support the same reasoning levels?
GPT-5.6 Sol exposes none, low, medium, high, xhigh, max, while Qwen 3.7 Max exposes low, high, max.
Should I use GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen 3.7 Max?
Both sit in the frontier tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. GPT-5.6 Sol suits complex reasoning; Qwen 3.7 Max suits api-only multimodal.
Next step
Choosing between them
The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.
- Input price: Qwen 3.7 Max costs $2.50 per 1M tokens versus $4 for GPT-5.6 Sol — a 1.6x difference at the headline tier.
- Context: GPT-5.6 Sol takes 1.05M against 1M for Qwen 3.7 Max — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
- Measured capability: GPT-5.6 Sol leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 61 to 55 (measured 2026-08-14).
Choosing a harness rather than a model — Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, or Lovable? Compare agentic harnesses · Latest releases.