Qwen3.5 9B vs Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct
Wins 5 of 6 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 6 areas
—
Qwen3.5 9B is the stronger all-rounder.
Scores updated · 15 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking20Qwen3.5 9B2 of 3 tests · 1 tie
- CodingWriting and fixing software20Qwen3.5 9B2 of 2 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up20Qwen3.5 9B2 of 2 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Qwen3.5 9B1 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Qwen3.5 9B1 of 1 test
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video11Even1 each
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Qwen3.5 9B costs 73% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Qwen3.5 9B pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+35.5points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+22.7points ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+18.6points ahead
Where Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct pulls ahead
- Reads and reasons about text in imagesOCRBenchv2+2.6points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 15 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingQwen3.5 9B
- Terminal-Bench HardQwen3.5 9B by 22.724.21.5+22.7
- SciCodeQwen3.5 9B by 10.929.518.6+10.9
ReasoningQwen3.5 9B
- GPQA DiamondQwen3.5 9B by 18.680.662+18.6
- Humanity's Last ExamQwen3.5 9B by 10.314.94.6+10.3
- CritPttie0.30tie
FactsQwen3.5 9B
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationQwen3.5 9B by 1416.42.4+14
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyQwen3.5 9B by 2.116.414.3+2.1
Images and chartsEven
- MMMU-ProQwen3.5 9B by 13.769.255.5+13.7
- OCRBenchv2Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct by 2.658.761.3+2.6
Following instructionsQwen3.5 9B
- IFBenchQwen3.5 9B by 35.566.731.2+35.5
Other results4 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Qwen3.5 9B by 70.486.816.4+70.4
- AA-OmniscienceQwen3.5 9B by 15.8-53.5-69.3+15.8
- AA IntelligenceQwen3.5 9B by 5.211.26+5.2
- OCRBench v2 (Chinese)Qwen3.5 9B by 4.164.160+4.1
Questions people ask
Which is better, Qwen3.5 9B or Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3.5 9B wins five of the six areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, facts, long documents and following instructions. Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct wins none. They are level on images and charts.
Which is better for coding?
Qwen3.5 9B. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Qwen3.5 9B costs $0.14 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.25 and $0.97. That makes Qwen3.5 9B about 73% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 15 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 11 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 4 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.