Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

DeepSeek Coder V2 vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B benchmark

Name: DeepSeek Coder V2 vs Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this head-to-head showdown, DeepSeek Coder V2 is more budget-friendly at $0.28/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

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Executive Verdict Summary

DeepSeek Coder V2 holds empirical advantage (1 of 2 metrics)

Coding / SWESWE-bench

DeepSeek Coder V2Top code solve rate

ReasoningGPQA / Live

DeepSeek Coder V2Top logical accuracy

Best Value$/1M Tok

DeepSeek Coder V2Lowest API billing cost

Speed / TokTok/Sec

DeepSeek Coder V2Fastest stream rate

Verified Advantage Breakdown

2 benchmarks evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

DeepSeek Coder V2 (1)Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (1)

DeepSeek Coder V2

1 of 2 Wins

✓Output price

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

1 of 2 Wins

✓Context window

DeepSeek

Leads 1 of 2

DeepSeek Coder V2

DeepSeek open-weight Mixture-of-Experts coding model supporting 338 programming languages and 128k context.

Elo 1,365In: $0.14 · Out: $0.28/1M

Alibaba

Leads 1 of 2

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b). Preview until a second source matches.

In: $0.14 · Out: $1/1M

Top Rival Showdowns for DeepSeek Coder V2

All Matchups

Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-5 vs Gemini 3 Pro vs Grok 4.6 vs Qwen 3 Max

Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar LeaderDeepSeek Coder V2 Wins

DeepSeek Coder V2

$0.28 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

DeepSeek Coder V2 (8)vsQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B (1)

DeepSeek Coder V2: 8W (89%)Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 1W (11%)

← DeepSeek Coder V21 tiesQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B →

🏆DeepSeek Coder V2 Leads(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark

DeepSeek Coder V2vsQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Preference Elo

1,365vs—

Coding Elo

1,442vs—

SWE-bench

60.5%vs—

LiveBench

58.6%vs—

GPQA Diamond

70.2%vs—

DeepSeek Coder V2: 5WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 0W

🏆DeepSeek Coder V2 Leads(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark

DeepSeek Coder V2vsQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Output speed

75 tok/svs—

Time to first token

290 msvs—

DeepSeek Coder V2: 2WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 0W

Tied (1-1)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark

DeepSeek Coder V2vsQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Output price

$0.28/1Mvs$1/1M+$0.72/1M

Input price

$0.14/1Mvs$0.14/1M

Context window

128kvs262k+134k

DeepSeek Coder V2: 1WQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 1W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

DeepSeek Coder V2Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Preference Elo

DeepSeek Coder V21,365

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Coding Elo

DeepSeek Coder V21,442

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

LiveBench

DeepSeek Coder V258.6%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

SWE-bench

DeepSeek Coder V260.5%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

GPQA Diamond

DeepSeek Coder V270.2%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Time to first token

DeepSeek Coder V2290 ms

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Output speed

DeepSeek Coder V275 tok/s

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Input price

DeepSeek Coder V2$0.14/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$0.14/1M

Output priceDeepSeek Coder V2 +$0.72/1M

DeepSeek Coder V2$0.28/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$1/1M

Context windowQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B +134k

DeepSeek Coder V2128k

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B262k

Benchmark	DeepSeek Coder V2	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B	Advantage Delta
Preference Elo	1,365 lmarena · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
Coding Elo	1,442 lmarena · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
LiveBench	58.6% livebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
SWE-bench	60.5% swebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
GPQA Diamond	70.2% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Time to first token	290 ms seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Output speed	75 tok/s seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Input price	$0.14/1M seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	$0.14/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	—
Output price	$0.28/1M seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	$1/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+$0.72/1M
Context window	128k seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	262k openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+134k

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save 54% with DeepSeek Coder V2

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

DeepSeek Coder V2$9.10 / mo

In: $4.9Out: $4.2

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$19.90 / mo

In: $4.9Out: $15

Estimated Cost Delta

DeepSeek Coder V2 is estimated to save $10.80/month ($130/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
DeepSeek Coder V2:Pick DeepSeek Coder V2 when you are optimizing output cost.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Larger window (262k).

Screenshots / visionQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B	Larger window (262k).
Screenshots / vision	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK

DeepSeek

DeepSeek Coder V2

Elo 1,365

SWE-bench60.5%

Speed (tok/s)75 tok/s

Input / 1M Tokens$0.14/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$0.28/1M

Alibaba

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Elo n/a

SWE-bench—

Speed (tok/s)262k

Input / 1M Tokens$0.14/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$1/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: DeepSeek Coder V2 output tokens are $0.28/1M versus $1/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B accepts 262k tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?: DeepSeek Coder V2 is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DeepSeek Coder V2 and Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All DeepSeek Coder V2 matchups →|All Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B matchups →

DeepSeek Coder V2 vs DeepSeek V3 (next deepseek)DeepSeek V4 Flash vs DeepSeek Coder V2 Qwen QwQ 32B vs DeepSeek Coder V2 Qwen 3 Max vs DeepSeek Coder V2 DeepSeek V4 Pro vs DeepSeek Coder V2 DeepSeek R1 vs DeepSeek Coder V2

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

DeepSeek Coder V2Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Preference Elo

DeepSeek Coder V21,365

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Coding Elo

DeepSeek Coder V21,442

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

LiveBench

DeepSeek Coder V258.6%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

SWE-bench

DeepSeek Coder V260.5%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

GPQA Diamond

DeepSeek Coder V270.2%

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Time to first token

DeepSeek Coder V2290 ms

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Output speed

DeepSeek Coder V275 tok/s

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B—

Input price

DeepSeek Coder V2$0.14/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$0.14/1M

Output priceDeepSeek Coder V2 +$0.72/1M

DeepSeek Coder V2$0.28/1M

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B$1/1M

Context windowQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B +134k

DeepSeek Coder V2128k

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B262k

Benchmark

DeepSeek Coder V2

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Advantage Delta

Preference Elo

1,365

lmarena · Aug 17, 2026

—

Coding Elo

1,442

lmarena · Aug 17, 2026

—

LiveBench

58.6%

livebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

SWE-bench

60.5%

swebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

GPQA Diamond

70.2%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Time to first token

290 ms

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Output speed

75 tok/s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Input price

$0.14/1M

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

$0.14/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

—

Output price

$0.28/1M

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

$1/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+$0.72/1M

Context window

128k

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

262k

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+134k

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Larger window (262k).

Screenshots / visionQwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B	Larger window (262k).
Screenshots / vision	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B	Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

DeepSeek Coder V2 output tokens are $0.28/1M versus $1/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B accepts 262k tokens versus 128k.

Can I self-host either model?

DeepSeek Coder V2 is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DeepSeek Coder V2 and Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3B Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.