LLM Reference

Grok 4 vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

Grok 4 (2025) and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from xAI and Alibaba. Grok 4 ships a 256k-token context window, while Qwen3.5-35B-A3B ships a 262k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Grok 4 leads by 1.7 pts. On pricing, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B costs $0.14/1M input tokens versus $1.25/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is ~799% cheaper at $0.14/1M; pay for Grok 4 only for coding workflow support.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalGrok 4Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Best forreasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agentsreasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsCoding, RAG, and Agents
Context window256k262k
Cheapest output$2.50/1M tokens$1/1M tokens
Provider routes4 tracked2 tracked
Shared benchmarksMMLU PRO leader6 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Grok 4 when...
  • Grok 4 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 1.7 points.
  • Grok 4 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • Grok 4 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags Grok 4 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose Qwen3.5-35B-A3B when...
  • Qwen3.5-35B-A3B holds a shared-benchmark lead on τ-bench, ahead by 2.3 points.
  • Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $1/1M tokens.
  • Local decision data tags Qwen3.5-35B-A3B for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

Grok 4

$1,625

Cheapest tracked route/tier: xAI Console

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

$361

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Estimated monthly gap: $1,264. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Grok 4 -> Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is $1.50/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution before moving production traffic.
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B -> Grok 4
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Grok 4 is $1.50/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
  • Grok 4 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2025-07-092026-02-24
Context window256k262k
Parameters—35B
ArchitectureDecoder OnlyMixture of Experts
LicenseProprietaryApache 2.0OSI-approved
OpennessProprietaryOpen source
WeightsNot releasedAvailable
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: conditionalCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff--

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeGrok 4Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Input price$1.25/1M tokens$0.14/1M tokens
Output price$2.50/1M tokens$1/1M tokens
Providers
Microsoft FoundryOpenRouterReplicate APIxAI Console
OpenRouterNovita AI

Capabilities

CapabilityGrok 4Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
VisionYesNo
MultimodalYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
JSON / Tool useYesYes
Structured outputsYesYes
Code executionYesNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

BenchmarkGrok 4Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
MMLU PRO87.085.3
SWE-bench Verified76.769.2
Google-Proof Q&A87.584.5
LiveCodeBench79.074.6
Humanity's Last Exam25.422.4
τ-bench78.981.2

Continue comparing

Model pages
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-10. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.