GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Side-by-side API pricing and Artificial Analysis performance for GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI) and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking (Alibaba (Qwen)). Green cells mark the better value in each row.
Prices updated Sep 18, 2026, 10:25 AM UTC · refreshed hourly
| GPT-5.6 Sol OpenAI | Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking Alibaba (Qwen) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Input $/1M | $2.00 | $0.18 |
| Output $/1M | $10.00 | $2.10 |
| Blended $/1M (3:1) | $4.00 | $0.66 |
| RAG example (30K in / 2K out) | $0.08 | $0.0096 |
| Quality & speed | ||
| Intelligence Index | 47.1 | — |
| Coding Index | 77.4 | — |
| Agentic Index | 50.5 | — |
| Output speed (tok/s) | 70 | — |
| Time to first token | 71.20s | — |
| Specs | ||
| Context window | 1.05M | 131K |
| Input modalities | file, image, text | image, text |
FAQ
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking has the lower blended API price at $0.66 per 1M tokens (3:1 input:output mix), versus $4.00 for the other model. Prices are live from OpenRouter and refresh about hourly.
Which is better for RAG workloads?
For a typical RAG request (30K input / 2K output tokens), Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking costs about $0.0096 per request versus $0.08. Also compare context windows: GPT-5.6 Sol offers 1.05M and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking offers 131K.
Which scores higher on Artificial Analysis benchmarks?
GPT-5.6 Sol leads on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (47.1 vs —). Check coding and agentic indices on this page for workload-specific tradeoffs.