Seed OSS 36B Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 102.5 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 5.2× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~29 tok/s).

Model A · ByteDance-Seed

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

102.5llmrun Score

36.2B · 512K context · Apache 2.0 · Aug 2025

ChatFunctions

Model B · Alibaba

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

106.8llmrun Score

36.0B · 4.7B active · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2026

VisionFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Seed OSS 36B Instruct if you want…

Longer context window
512K vs 256K tokens
Also does chat
Qwen3.6 35B A3B doesn't list it

Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
106.8 vs 102.5, ranges overlap
Fits a 16 GB GPU
IQ3_S · 15.7 GB; Seed OSS 36B Instruct needs 12.4 GB at its smallest quant
5.2× faster on RTX 4090
~151 vs ~29 tok/s
Also does vision
Seed OSS 36B Instruct doesn't list it
Newer release
Apr 2026 vs Aug 2025

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemorySeed OSS 36B InstructQwen3.6 35B A3B

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 12.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 10.4 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 12.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

IQ2_S · ~114 tok/s

11.7 GB · up to 32Kfits

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

IQ2_M · ~23 tok/s

14.7 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

IQ3_S · ~108 tok/s

15.7 GB · up to 32Kbetter quant

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~29 tok/stight

24.1 GB · up to 8K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~151 tok/s

22 GB · up to 128Kmore headroom

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~52 tok/s

24.1 GB · up to 64K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~213 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

24.1 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~125 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~4 tok/s

24.1 GB · up to 32K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~17 tok/s

24.1 GB · up to 256K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~17 tok/s

24.1 GB · up to 512K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Seed OSS 36B Instruct Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Overall

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

102.598–107

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

106.8104–110

Coding

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

no data

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

105.399–112

Math

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

no data

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

109.0104–114

Science

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

no data

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

110.1101–119

Reasoning

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

no data

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

103.796–112

Seed OSS 36B Instruct · #46 of 100 open models · #8 of 35 that fit 24 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B · #37 of 100 open models · #4 of 35 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

2 shared boards: Seed OSS 36B Instruct leads 0, Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads 2 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardSeed OSS 36B InstructQwen3.6 35B A3B

GPQA Diamond

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

71.5%#31/98 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

84.9%#21/98 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

AIME 2024/2025

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

67.5%#30/86 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

86.7%#20/86 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

10 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Seed OSS 36B Instruct (1)

MMLU-Pro82.7%

Only Qwen3.6 35B A3B (9)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantSeed OSS 36B InstructQwen3.6 35B A3B

Q2_K

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

15.9 GB13.6 GB file

32K 20.0 GB · 128K 32.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.7 GB13.5 GB file

32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB

Q3_K_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

16.4 GB15.9 GB file

32K 20.4 GB · 128K 33.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

16.1 GB15.4 GB file

32K 16.4 GB · 128K 17.4 GB

Q3_K_M

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

18.2 GB17.6 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 35.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

17.9 GB16.6 GB file

32K 18.2 GB · 128K 19.2 GB

Q4_0

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

18.6 GB20.6 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 35.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

18.4 GB~18.0 GB file

32K 18.6 GB · 128K 19.6 GB

Q4_K_M

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

22.3 GB21.8 GB file

32K 26.3 GB · 128K 39.2 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.0 GB22.1 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 23.2 GB

Q5_K_M

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

26.3 GB25.6 GB file

32K 30.4 GB · 128K 43.2 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

26.0 GB26.5 GB file

32K 26.3 GB · 128K 27.3 GB

Q6_K

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

30.4 GB29.7 GB file

32K 34.4 GB · 128K 47.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

30.0 GB29.3 GB file

32K 30.3 GB · 128K 31.3 GB

Q8_0

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

36.7 GB38.4 GB file

32K 40.8 GB · 128K 53.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

36.3 GB36.9 GB file

32K 36.6 GB · 128K 37.6 GB

20 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

10.5 GB10.2 GB file

32K 14.5 GB · 128K 27.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

10.3 GB10.8 GB file

32K 10.5 GB · 128K 11.5 GB

IQ2_XS

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

11.4 GB10.9 GB file

32K 15.4 GB · 128K 28.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

11.2 GB11.7 GB file

32K 11.4 GB · 128K 12.4 GB

IQ2_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

11.9 GB11.6 GB file

32K 15.9 GB · 128K 28.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

11.6 GB11.9 GB file

32K 11.9 GB · 128K 12.9 GB

IQ2_M

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

12.8 GB12.7 GB file

32K 16.8 GB · 128K 29.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

12.5 GB11.5 GB file

32K 12.8 GB · 128K 13.8 GB

IQ3_XXS

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

14.6 GB14.3 GB file

32K 18.6 GB · 128K 31.5 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

14.3 GB13.2 GB file

32K 14.6 GB · 128K 15.6 GB

Q2_K_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

15.0 GB12.6 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 31.9 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

14.8 GB12.2 GB file

32K 15.0 GB · 128K 16.0 GB

IQ3_XS

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

15.5 GB15.1 GB file

32K 19.5 GB · 128K 32.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.2 GB17.1 GB file

32K 15.5 GB · 128K 16.5 GB

IQ3_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

15.9 GB15.9 GB file

32K 20.0 GB · 128K 32.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.7 GB13.7 GB file

32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB

IQ3_M

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

16.8 GB16.5 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 33.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

16.6 GB17.8 GB file

32K 16.8 GB · 128K 17.8 GB

Q3_K_L

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

19.1 GB19.1 GB file

32K 23.1 GB · 128K 36.0 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

18.8 GB17.8 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 20.1 GB

IQ4_XS

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

20.0 GB19.5 GB file

32K 24.0 GB · 128K 36.9 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

19.7 GB17.7 GB file

32K 20.0 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

IQ4_NL

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

20.9 GB20.6 GB file

32K 24.9 GB · 128K 37.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB18.0 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_1

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

20.9 GB22.8 GB file

32K 24.9 GB · 128K 37.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB22.9 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_K_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

20.9 GB20.7 GB file

32K 24.9 GB · 128K 37.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB20.9 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_K_L

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

22.7 GB22.4 GB file

32K 26.7 GB · 128K 39.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.4 GB22.7 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 23.7 GB

Q5_0

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

23.2 GB25.0 GB file

32K 27.2 GB · 128K 40.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.9 GB24.1 GB file

32K 23.1 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Q5_1

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

not listed

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

25.1 GB26.1 GB file

32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB

Q5_K_S

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

25.4 GB25.0 GB file

32K 29.5 GB · 128K 42.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

25.1 GB24.9 GB file

32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB

Q5_K_L

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

26.8 GB26.1 GB file

32K 30.8 GB · 128K 43.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

26.5 GB26.2 GB file

32K 26.7 GB · 128K 27.7 GB

BF16

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

72.9 GB72.3 GB file

32K 76.9 GB · 128K 89.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

72.3 GB69.4 GB file

32K 72.5 GB · 128K 73.6 GB

How to run each

Seed OSS 36B Instruct

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Seed OSS 36B Instruct →

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Qwen3.6 35B A3B →

Specifications

Specifications of Seed OSS 36B Instruct and Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Spec	Seed OSS 36B Instruct	Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Publisher	ByteDance-Seed	Alibaba
Parameters	36.2B	36.0B
Active parameters	—	4.7B per token
Architecture	SeedOssForCausalLM	Qwen3_5MoeForConditionalGeneration
Context	512K tokens	256K tokens
Modalities	Chat, Function-calling	Vision, Function-calling
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0
Released	Aug 2025	Apr 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Seed OSS 36B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 102.5 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 5.2× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~29 tok/s). Choose Seed OSS 36B Instruct for longer context window and also does chat; choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B for higher llmrun Score and fits a 16 GB GPU.

Which needs less VRAM, Seed OSS 36B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

At Q4_K_M, Seed OSS 36B Instruct requires 22.3 GB while Qwen3.6 35B A3B needs 22.0 GB, making Qwen3.6 35B A3B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 29 tok/s for Seed OSS 36B Instruct (Q4_K_M) and 151 tok/s for Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3.6 35B A3B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Seed OSS 36B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B on a 16 GB GPU?

Seed OSS 36B Instruct fits at IQ2_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B fits at IQ3_S.

Which has a longer context window, Seed OSS 36B Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Seed OSS 36B Instruct supports 524,288 tokens and Qwen3.6 35B A3B supports 262,144 tokens.