Pick GPT-6 Astra for computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%) or cybersecurity exploit development (exploitbench 100%). Pick Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) for deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux) or exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 arena-hard v2, 85.2 writingbench). Choose Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) if you need self-hosting or data privacy; GPT-6 Astra if you want a managed API.
GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, US) and Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) (Alibaba, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. GPT-6 Astra is openAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is an older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Cost model: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while GPT-6 Astra is API-metered at $10/$50 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
Context window: GPT-6 Astra holds 4× more — 1.05M tokens (~1,575 pages) vs 256K (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: GPT-6 Astra is the newer model by about 14 months (released September 3, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Specifications
Spec
GPT-6 Astra
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Provider
OpenAI (US)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 3, 2026
July 21, 2025
Context window
1.05M tokens (~1,575 pages)
256K (~393 pages)
Price (in/out)
$10/$50 per 1M tokens
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?
No — API only
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
96.3%
Not published
Who wins what
Computer & browser use (ScreenSpot-Pro 92.7%): GPT-6 Astra — OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks — and it carries the larger 1.05M tokens context.
Cybersecurity exploit development (ExploitBench 100%): GPT-6 Astra — OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks — and it is the newer of the two.
Frontier math reasoning (FrontierMath Tier 4: 97.6%): GPT-6 Astra — Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is comparatively weak here — text-only with no vision, and the absence of a thinking mode caps its hardest reasoning
Deep world knowledge from 235B total parameters (83.0 MMLU-Pro, 93.1 MMLU-Redux): Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — An older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding — and its weights are open while GPT-6 Astra is API-only.
Exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench): Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) lists exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench) among its strengths; GPT-6 Astra does not.
Outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) lists outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic among its strengths; GPT-6 Astra does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of GPT-6 Astra's $10/$50 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input: GPT-6 Astra — Its 1.05M tokens window is about 4× larger than Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)'s 256K, fitting roughly 1,575 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts GPT-6 Astra, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: GPT-6 Astra — Larger 1.05M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; GPT-6 Astra is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%): GPT-6 Astra — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux): Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules: GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) — Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
GPT-6 Astra: where it fits
OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks. Released September 3, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for computer & browser use (ScreenSpot-Pro 92.7%), cybersecurity exploit development (ExploitBench 100%), frontier math reasoning (FrontierMath Tier 4: 97.6%), and long-context recall (MRCR v2 512K-1M: 96.3%).
Its trade-offs are real: no native audio or video input, pricing doubles for prompts over 272K tokens (input/cache 2x, output 1.5x), trails Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 on some coding evals (DeepSWE v1.1: 74.1 vs 75.4), and a separate opt-in "Daybreak" program gives vetted cybersecurity defenders a less-restricted version for legitimate vulnerability research; the public version already refuses ~91.5% of offensive cyber jailbreak attempts by default. At $10 in / $50 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507): where it fits
An older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding. Released July 21, 2025 by Alibaba, it is built for deep world knowledge from 235B total parameters (83.0 MMLU-Pro, 93.1 MMLU-Redux), exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench), outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic, and no thinking mode, which makes latency and token spend entirely predictable.
Its trade-offs: nearly a year old and superseded — Artificial Analysis now steers users to Qwen3.5-397B instead, text-only with no vision, and the absence of a thinking mode caps its hardest reasoning, coding is weak by 2026 standards, and it publishes no SWE-Bench score to compare on, and its 235B weights need roughly 438GB in BF16, far beyond consumer hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. GPT-6 Astra gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, GPT-6 Astra leans toward computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%) while Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) leans toward deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)?
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while GPT-6 Astra is API-metered at $10/$50 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-6 Astra — 1.05M tokens vs 256K, about 4× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-6 Astra and Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-6 Astra, Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)?
GPT-6 Astra — released September 3, 2026, about 14 months after Qwen3 235B A22B (2507).
GPT-6 Astra vs Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
OpenAI · US | Alibaba · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick GPT-6 Astra for computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%) or cybersecurity exploit development (exploitbench 100%). Pick Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) for deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux) or exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 arena-hard v2, 85.2 writingbench). Choose Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) if you need self-hosting or data privacy; GPT-6 Astra if you want a managed API.
GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, US) and Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) (Alibaba, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. GPT-6 Astra is openAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is an older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Cost model: Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while GPT-6 Astra is API-metered at $10/$50 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
▸Context window: GPT-6 Astra holds 4× more — 1.05M tokens (~1,575 pages) vs 256K (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: GPT-6 Astra is the newer model by about 14 months (released September 3, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
GPT-6 Astra
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Provider
OpenAI (US)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 3, 2026
July 21, 2025
Context window
1.05M tokens (~1,575 pages)
256K (~393 pages)
Price (in/out)
$10/$50 per 1M tokens
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?
No — API only
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
96.3%
Not published
Who wins what
Computer & browser use (ScreenSpot-Pro 92.7%)
GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks — and it carries the larger 1.05M tokens context.
Cybersecurity exploit development (ExploitBench 100%)
GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks — and it is the newer of the two.
Frontier math reasoning (FrontierMath Tier 4: 97.6%)
GPT-6 Astra
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is comparatively weak here — text-only with no vision, and the absence of a thinking mode caps its hardest reasoning
Deep world knowledge from 235B total parameters (83.0 MMLU-Pro, 93.1 MMLU-Redux)
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
An older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding — and its weights are open while GPT-6 Astra is API-only.
Exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench)
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) lists exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench) among its strengths; GPT-6 Astra does not.
Outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) lists outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic among its strengths; GPT-6 Astra does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of GPT-6 Astra's $10/$50 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
GPT-6 Astra
Its 1.05M tokens window is about 4× larger than Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)'s 256K, fitting roughly 1,575 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts GPT-6 Astra, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ GPT-6 Astra
Larger 1.05M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; GPT-6 Astra is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%)
→ GPT-6 Astra
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux)
→ Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
GPT-6 Astra: where it fits
OpenAI's flagship reasoning model for computer use, browsing, coding and science, released September 3, 2026 with near-perfect scores on FrontierMath, ExploitBench and long-context recall benchmarks. Released September 3, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for computer & browser use (ScreenSpot-Pro 92.7%), cybersecurity exploit development (ExploitBench 100%), frontier math reasoning (FrontierMath Tier 4: 97.6%), and long-context recall (MRCR v2 512K-1M: 96.3%).
Its trade-offs are real: no native audio or video input, pricing doubles for prompts over 272K tokens (input/cache 2x, output 1.5x), trails Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 on some coding evals (DeepSWE v1.1: 74.1 vs 75.4), and a separate opt-in "Daybreak" program gives vetted cybersecurity defenders a less-restricted version for legitimate vulnerability research; the public version already refuses ~91.5% of offensive cyber jailbreak attempts by default. At $10 in / $50 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507): where it fits
An older 235B text-only open mixture-of-experts with broad knowledge and strong writing — but no vision, no thinking mode, and weak coding. Released July 21, 2025 by Alibaba, it is built for deep world knowledge from 235B total parameters (83.0 MMLU-Pro, 93.1 MMLU-Redux), exceptional multilingual and alignment results (79.2 Arena-Hard v2, 85.2 WritingBench), outstanding structured logic — 95.0 on ZebraLogic, and no thinking mode, which makes latency and token spend entirely predictable.
Its trade-offs: nearly a year old and superseded — Artificial Analysis now steers users to Qwen3.5-397B instead, text-only with no vision, and the absence of a thinking mode caps its hardest reasoning, coding is weak by 2026 standards, and it publishes no SWE-Bench score to compare on, and its 235B weights need roughly 438GB in BF16, far beyond consumer hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. GPT-6 Astra gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both GPT-6 Astra and Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, GPT-6 Astra leans toward computer & browser use (screenspot-pro 92.7%) while Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) leans toward deep world knowledge from 235b total parameters (83.0 mmlu-pro, 93.1 mmlu-redux), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)?
Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while GPT-6 Astra is API-metered at $10/$50 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-6 Astra — 1.05M tokens vs 256K, about 4× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-6 Astra and Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-6 Astra, Qwen3 235B A22B (2507) and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, GPT-6 Astra or Qwen3 235B A22B (2507)?
GPT-6 Astra — released September 3, 2026, about 14 months after Qwen3 235B A22B (2507).
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.