DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 or Qwen3.6 27B: which to choose?

Side-by-side comparison

Criterion	DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813	Qwen3.6 27B
Developer	DeepSeek	Alibaba Cloud (Qwen)
Released	August 13, 2026	April 22, 2026
Capability index	72.2 / 100	72.2 / 100
Input price	$0.66	$0.33
Output price	$1.98	$2.7
Cost of a typical task	$0.017	$0.012
Context window	1,048,576 tokens	262,144 tokens
Maximum output	393,216 tokens	65,536 tokens
Reasoning mode	Yes	Yes
Tool calling	Yes	Yes
Accepted inputs	text	text, image, video
Open weights	Yes	Yes
Knowledge cutoff	Not disclosed	Not disclosed

What are we comparing?

This comparison pits two open-weight models that you can install on your own servers against each other: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 and Qwen3.6 27B, one from DeepSeek, the other from Alibaba Cloud (Qwen). The first dates from August 13, 2026, the second from April 22, 2026.

All figures below come from public sources checked on October 22, 2026: models.dev and OpenRouter for prices and capabilities, Epoch AI for scores.

Which one is more capable?

On our capability index, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 scores 72.2 out of 100 and Qwen3.6 27B 72.2. The gap is too small to separate them.

On the 3 benchmarks reported for both, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 wins 3 times and Qwen3.6 27B 0:

GPQA Diamond (PhD-level science questions): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 91.7%, Qwen3.6 27B 85.9%
OTIS Mock AIME (competition mathematics problems): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 98.6%, Qwen3.6 27B 91.1%
FrontierMath (very hard research-level mathematics): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 64.6%, Qwen3.6 27B 35.1%

Budget

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 costs $0.66 per million input tokens and $1.98 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.33 and $2.7.

For a typical agent task (read 20,000 tokens, write 2,000), expect $0.017 with DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 versus $0.012 with Qwen3.6 27B. Qwen3.6 27B is 1.4 times cheaper, a gap that adds up quickly over 1,000 tasks: $5.26 difference.

Run the numbers with your own volumes in the agent cost calculator.

Context and capabilities

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 reads more in one go: 1,048,576 tokens of context (roughly 1,573 pages), versus 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B.

Reasoning mode: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 yes, Qwen3.6 27B yes. Tool calling: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 yes, Qwen3.6 27B yes. Image input: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 no, Qwen3.6 27B yes.

Both publish their weights: you can host them yourself.

In short

Our reading of the data:

Choose DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 for a larger context window and a more recent release.
Choose Qwen3.6 27B for a lower cost and image input.

This verdict relies on public figures; it does not replace a trial on your own tasks.

Frequently asked questions

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 or Qwen3.6 27B: which is better?

On our index (Epoch AI data), DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 scores 72.2 and Qwen3.6 27B 72.2 out of 100. The best choice also depends on price and on your use case.

Which one is cheaper?

Qwen3.6 27B. To read 20,000 tokens and write 2,000, expect $0.017 with DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 and $0.012 with Qwen3.6 27B (prices as of October 22, 2026).

Which one has the larger context window?

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, with 1,048,576 tokens versus 262,144.

Can I run DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 or Qwen3.6 27B on my own servers?

Yes, both publish their weights. Check each license before commercial use.

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 vs Qwen3.6 27B