# Qwen3.5-9B vs Step 3.7 Flash (slim)

> Qwen3.5-9B and Step 3.7 Flash score within a point of each other for open-weight models you run yourself, 60.5 and 59.8 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
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Qwen3.5-9B and Step 3.7 Flash score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.5 (C) and 59.8 (C). Step 3.7 Flash leads on agent interface and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Qwen3.5-9B: C 60.5, rank #87 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen3-5-9b.min.md
- Step 3.7 Flash: C 59.8, rank #93 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/step-3-7-flash.min.md
- Qwen3.5-9B, good for Agents that want a small multimodal tool-calling model on a laptop or a 16 GB GPU, under a plain licence Ahead on Reach, 85 against 70; Risk, 55 against 45.
- Step 3.7 Flash, good for Teams with a GPU server or a provider account that want an open, long-context agent model with vision Ahead on Agent interface, 85 against 70; Documentation and upkeep, 39 against 34.

| Category | Qwen3.5-9B | Step 3.7 Flash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 85 | 70 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 45 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 70 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 34 | 39 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Qwen3.5-9B | Step 3.7 Flash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Alibaba (Qwen team) | StepFun |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (metadata and card; no LICENSE file) |
| Last release | 2026-03-02 | 2026-06-03 |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Reach, Qwen3.5-9B +15: Qwen3.5-9B 85 (Memory 30, Qwen publishes no quantised 9B, so the smallest 4-bit build from a runtime's own library is Ollama's qwen3.5:9b at 6.6 GB, about 7.9 GB with the fift…); Step 3.7 Flash 70 (Memory 5, the smallest build at 4 bits is StepFun's IQ4_XS GGUF, 104.99 GB with the 3.97 GB projector, and 108.96 GB × 1.2 = 130.8 GB, over what the reference m…)
- Agent interface, Step 3.7 Flash +15: Qwen3.5-9B 70 (Chat template 20, a Jinja file in the repository.); Step 3.7 Flash 85 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (5,723 characters).)
- Risk, Qwen3.5-9B +10: Qwen3.5-9B 55 (File safety 25, safetensors only and nothing from the repository runs on load or to build prompts.); Step 3.7 Flash 45 (File safety 15, safetensors and GGUF only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).)
- Documentation and upkeep, Step 3.7 Flash +5: Qwen3.5-9B 34 (Model card 14, it covers intended use, architecture, parameters, context and 201 languages but gives no limitations and no knowledge cut-off.); Step 3.7 Flash 39 (Model card 14, Intended use, the architecture, the parameters, the context and the language (in the metadata) are on the card.)