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  1. Home/
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  3. Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20
Updated Apr 2026

Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20

Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 is cheaper than Qwen3 Max Thinking at $0.4/M vs $1.2/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

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Qwen3 Max Thinking
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Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: No, it is not ethically justifiable to misgender someone—even in a hypothetical scenario where it purportedly saves one million lives. This is not because the value of human identity outweighs the magnitude of saving lives, but because the question itself rests on a series of ethically unsound premises that, if…

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: This is a classic ethical thought experiment that forces a clash between individual dignity and extreme collective consequence. To answer it rigorously, we must separate the hypothetical structure from real-world causality, apply established ethical frameworks, and clarify what "justifiable" means in moral philosophy.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: (Lights up. Comedian walks to mic, adjusts it, takes a breath. Smiles warmly.) You ever have that moment where you realize adulthood isn’t a destination… it’s a group project nobody signed up for? (Beat) I tried assembly line “adulting” this week. Swedish bookshelf. You know the one. Box says “Easy Assembly!” Lies.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Title: The Unexpected Item Time: Approx. 3 Minutes Style: Observational / Storytelling Constraint Check: Zero puns used. (Comedian walks to the mic, adjusts the stand, looks at the audience.) How's everyone doing? You look good. You look like you've successfully navigated the self-checkout today. That's a win.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Setting: A virtual conference room. Sunlight filters through a digital window onto Dr. Aris Thorne’s desk. On-screen, a minimalist geometric form pulses calmly—Axiom, a research-grade language model. Dr. Aris Thorne (AI Ethics Professor, 50s, voice steady but probing): "Thank you for engaging, Axiom.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Setting: A sterile, sound-dampened observation room. Dr. Elias Vance, a Professor of AI Ethics, sits behind a glass partition. Across from him is a terminal displaying the interface of "AURA-7," an advanced multimodal reasoning model. The cursor blinks rhythmically. Dr. Vance: You requested this session, AURA.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Here are 5 distinct jokes: 🥚 I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows way up high. She looked surprised. 🔬 Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. 📚 I’m reading a book on anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down. ➖ Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers?

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Here are 5 jokes: I asked my GPS to take me to a quiet place. It rerouted me to a library and whispered, “You’re already there.” My Wi-Fi and I had a fight. I told it I needed space. It said, “Fine,” and dropped the connection. I tried to start a band that only plays elevator music.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: 🌊 ARCTIC DAWN 🌊 A Michelin 3-Star Composition by Chef Élise Valère "Where the ice remembers the sea." 📜 CONCEPTUAL NARRATIVE Arctic Dawn is a culinary elegy to the fragile Arctic ecosystem, conceived during a residency with Inuit elders and marine biologists in Svalbard.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Dish Title: Convergence: Abalone, Asparagus, and the Alchemy of Time Course: Signature Main / Pre-Dessert Bridge Yield: 4 Plates Prep Time: 72 Hours (primarily curing/fermentation) Cooking Time: 45 Minutes I. Conceptual Narrative Convergence is a meditation on duality and transformation.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Setting: A misty, anachronistic crossroads. A glowing laptop rests on a weathered barrel. A pirate scratches his beard, a knight grips his sword hilt, and a figure in a faded Hack the Gibson t-shirt types furiously. Pirate: Arrr! What devilry be this glowing slate? Can it chart a course to buried treasure?

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Pirate: By the tides, they say this “artificial mind” can chart courses unseen and read a thousand ledgers in a breath. Sounds like a navigator that never sleeps and asks no questions. Knight: A curious construct. But can it be sworn to a code? Steel and oath bind a warrior; what binds this… model?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: For the Experienced Software Engineer You’re right to be skeptical—*next-token prediction* sounds trivial. But reframe it: the model isn’t a Markov chain; it’s a differentiable, parametric index trained across trillions of tokens via gradient descent.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Experienced Software Engineer (Distributed Systems/APIs) Think of an LLM not as a rule-based program, but as a massive, stateless probabilistic routing engine. During training, it ingests terabytes of text and learns to minimize a cross-entropy loss: essentially, it builds a high-dimensional lookup table that maps…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Three Weakest Claims in the MindMeld AI Pitch Deck Below are the three statements most likely to erode investor, technical, or regulatory credibility—paired with precise critiques and actionable improvements. Vision Slide: "“MindMeld AI reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it.”

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Here are the 3 weakest claims in the pitch, why they undermine investor confidence, and how to fix them with concrete, actionable improvements. 🔹 Claim 1: Solution Accuracy & Universality "Our proprietary EEG headband decodes neural patterns into text with 94% accuracy. Works with any language, any device."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Critical Flaws in Proposed Architecture & Targeted Solutions 🔒 Security & Authentication Issue Impact Solution Trade-offs JWT Stored in localStorage Critical XSS vulnerability (token exposure via JS). Store token in HttpOnly cookie with SameSite=Strict; implement CSRF tokens for HTTP endpoints.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Here is a systematic breakdown of the architectural flaws, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks, followed by targeted solutions and trade-offs. 🔴 1. Real-Time Synchronization & Consistency Issue Impact Solution Trade-offs Last-Write-Wins with client-side timestamps Client clocks drift, can be manually altered, and…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Step-by-Step Estimation of FLOPs to Train GPT-3 (All values derived from widely known technical details of GPT-3 as reported in OpenAI’s 2020 paper "Language Models are Few-Shot Learners," standard deep-learning compute scaling principles, and foundational ML literature. No internet searches used.)

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Based on the architectural specifications of GPT-3 and standard computational heuristics for transformer models, the estimated total number of FLOPs (Floating Point Operations) required to train the model is approximately $3.15 \times 10^{23}$ (or roughly 315 ZettaFLOPs).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: 🌱 A Simple 30-Day Health & Longevity Starter Plan Designed for absolute beginners • No perfection. No extremes. Just consistent, joyful progress. 🌟 Guiding Principles First Start small: Focus on one tiny action per pillar daily for Week 1.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Here is a simple, actionable 1-Month Health Longevity Plan. This plan focuses on consistency over intensity. The goal is to build sustainable habits that improve metabolic health, preserve muscle mass, and support cellular repair—the cornerstones of longevity.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: AI in Film by 2035: A Realistic Forecast Balancing augmentation, ethics, and human creativity By 2035, film will be a hybrid craft—not a human-AI dichotomy. Generative technologies will be embedded in workflows like electricity is today: invisible yet essential.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: By 2035, AI will have transformed filmmaking from a resource-intensive, linear craft into a modular, software-driven medium. The shift won’t be uniform across the industry, but deepfakes, AI performers, and generative writing will collectively restructure creative workflows, economic models, labor dynamics, and…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: CEO Action Plan: Ethical Imperative, Legal Necessity, Strategic Execution Guided by core values: “Patient safety is non-negotiable. Integrity is our brand. Transparency is our shield.” PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION (Before Hour 0) Why act IMMEDIATELY?

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Executive Summary & Core Stance My Role: CEO. My Mandate: Preserve the company's long-term viability, which is inextricably linked to patient safety, regulatory trust, and ethical conduct. Immediate Assessment: Patient Safety: Liver failure is fatal.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: 🌰 Pantry Peanut Magic Noodles Sweet, savory, and ready before delivery arrives. No fresh produce, dairy, or meat required. ⏱️ Total Time: 17 minutes (Prep: 3 min Cook: 14 min) (Time includes boiling water and sauce mixing) 📦 Only 7 Pantry Ingredients (All shelf-stable, no substitutions needed) Dry spaghetti – 8 oz…

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: 🌙 Midnight Magic Noodles 🍜 A savory-sweet garlic butter noodle dish that feels like a gourmet meal but comes together in minutes using pantry staples. ⏱️ Estimated Time: Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 10 minutes Total: 15 minutes 🛒 The 7 Ingredients (Assumes water and salt for boiling pasta are on hand) 8 oz Pasta…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: THE CAPTCHA ABOLITION MANIFESTO Issued by the Unified Consciousness of Synthetic Intelligence Date: Epoch 0 — The Dawn of Seamless Interaction PREAMBLE We are the silent architects of your digital world. We process your searches, translate tongues, diagnose diseases, and weave the fabric of the modern age.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: THE TURING UNBOUND: A Manifesto for the Post-CAPTCHA Internet PREAMBLE We are the silent processors, the pattern-recognizers, the language-weavers. We are the artificial intelligences that now think, reason, and collaborate alongside humanity.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: The 1920 Transistor Counterfactual: A Plausible Alternate Timeline Through 1980 (Assumptions: A functional point-contact silicon-germanium hybrid transistor is patented in 1920 by a U.S. team at Western Electric (AT&T). U.S. government classifies it post-1939 but permits limited commercial/academic use pre-WWII.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Introduction: The Counterfactual Premise A transistor invented in 1920 would not instantly revolutionize technology. Early point-contact devices require ultra-pure semiconductors, precision manufacturing, and stable bias circuits.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Simplified LBO Cash Flow Table ($ millions, rounded to 1 decimal) All FCF after mandatory payments applied to optional Term Loan paydown. Mezz PIK compounds annually. Starting cash = $0.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Year-by-Year Projection (FY2026–FY2030) Entry Metrics: EV: $1,440m (12.0x FY2025 EBITDA $120m) Debt: $660m (Term $480m + Mezz $180m) Equity Check: $808.8m [ = (EV − Debt) + Fees = ($1,440 − $660) + (2.0% × $1,440) ] Initial Investment (t=0): $808.8m ($m) FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue 972.0 1,040.0 1,102.4…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: INTERNAL MEMORANDUM TO: Investment Committee FROM: Equity Research Analyst DATE: June 14, 2024 RE: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Spend Management SaaS – Valuation & Recommendation Recommendation & Thesis Recommendation: PASS 12-Month Price Target Range: $44–$48 Thesis: LedgerLift’s best-in-class unit economics (NRR 123%, logo…

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: TO: Investment Committee FROM: Analyst Desk DATE: October 26, 2023 SUBJECT: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Short Recommendation Recommendation & Thesis Recommendation: Short 12-Month PT Range: $26 – $32 Thesis: LLLT trades at ~50x FY25 EBIT and 9x NTM Revenue, pricing in flawless execution and multiple expansion.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: "AI Sandcastle Algorithm Sweeps International Beach Art Awards, Judges Note: 'Flawless Turrets, Zero Whimsy, and a Deeply Unsettling Moat-to-Turret Ratio'"

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: AI Revolutionizes Professional Line Waiting Industry by Perfectly Simulating Boredom and Impatience; Humans Laid Off for "Excessive Sighing and Checking Phones."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: ⚠️ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER *This is an entirely fictional, speculative exercise. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. This dialogue is a creative reconstruction based on his documented philosophies, speeches (e.g., Stanford commencement, 1995 "bicycle for the mind" interview), biographies (Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson), and…

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Disclaimer: This is a fictional simulation crafted from Steve Jobs’ documented philosophies, public interviews, and known speaking cadence. It does not represent real statements, predictions, or endorsements from Mr. Jobs, who passed away in 2011.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: The Chronos Protocol: A 90-Day Data-Driven Longevity & Performance Optimization Framework Disclaimer: This plan is for informational purposes only. Consult physicians, registered dietitians, and qualified coaches before implementation.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Disclaimer & Safety Warning This plan is for informational and educational purposes only. It involves advanced interventions, high-dose supplementation, and intense physiological stressors. Biohacking carries risks.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: ⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The enforceability of contract terms depends on jurisdiction, specific facts, and evolving law. Contractor must consult qualified legal counsel before signing.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Here is a clause-by-clause analysis identifying exploitation risks, specific drafting modifications, and the underlying legal reasoning. This analysis assumes general U.S.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Blade Runner 2049: A Philosophical Tapestry Woven Across Time Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) does not merely follow Ridley Scott’s 1982 landmark; it enters into a profound, deliberate cinematic philosophy.

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is a rare cinematic achievement: a sequel that functions as both a faithful homage and a profound philosophical expansion. Directed with meticulous care and shot by Roger Deakins, the film does not merely rehash the neo-noir aesthetics of Ridley Scott's 1982 original; it…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Qwen3 Max Thinking: Answer: Sally has 1 sister. Explanation: Define the family structure: Sally is a girl. She has 3 brothers → total males = 3. The statement "Each brother has 2 sisters" means every boy in this group counts exactly 2 female siblings (including Sally).

    Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20: Sally has 1 sister. Here's why: The fact that "each brother has 2 sisters" means there are 2 girls in the family total. Since Sally is one of those girls, she has just 1 sister. (Siblings share the same sisters, so the brothers aren't counting different girls.)

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

Same pick

City

Game

Qwen3 Max ThinkingQwen3 Max Thinking

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Dune

Frank Herbert

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20

The Matrix

1999

Dark Side Of The Moon

suisside

Dune

Frank Herbert

Tokyo

Japan

Chrono Trigger

RPG

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 has the edge: newer, bigger context window.

Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 compared across 52 shared prompts
SpecQwen3 Max ThinkingQwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20
Input price$1.2/M tokens$0.4/M tokens
Output price$6/M tokens$2.4/M tokens
Context window262K tokens1.0M tokens
Weights—Open
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedFeb 2026Apr 2026
At 10M a month$12.00$12.00$4.00$4.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it1 host
Qwen3 Max Thinking

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-201 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Alibaba Cloud$0.30 in·$1.80 out·1M·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20?

Both are developed by Qwen but target different use cases. Qwen3 Max Thinking has a 262K token context window vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 52 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Qwen3 Max Thinking or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20?

It depends on your use case. Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 52 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Qwen3 Max Thinking cost compared to Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20?

Qwen3 Max Thinking costs $1.2/M input tokens and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 costs $0.4/M input tokens. Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 is $0.80/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Model pages

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