Qwen3.5 4B vs Spark-X2.6 4B
Qwen3.5 4B scores 13 on the intelligence index, and Spark-X2.6 4B has not been placed on it. Both take the same machine to start: the cheapest here that runs either is the Mac mini M6, 16GB, at $899. On it, they run at much the same speed: 30 and 30 tok/s, both estimated from memory bandwidth. At 500k tokens a day the Mac mini M6, 16GB pays for itself in 83 years running either.
| Qwen3.5 4B | Spark-X2.6 4B | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence index | 13 | not placed |
| Class | Below every hosted tier | not yet placed |
| Weights | 2.7 GB | 2.6 GB |
| Needs at 32k | 3.8 GB | 3.9 GB |
| Quantisation | Q4_K_M | Q4_K_M |
| Parameters | 4.7B | 4.1B |
| Max context | 256k | 1M |
| API price per 1M | $0.06 in / $0.15 outpriced as Granite 4.2 8B | $0.06 in / $0.15 outpriced as Granite 4.2 8B |
| Licence | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Machines here that run it | 37 of 37 | 37 of 37 |
| Cheapest machine that runs it | Mac mini M6, 16GB $899 | Mac mini M6, 16GB $899 |
Run Qwen3.5 4B on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · or Spark-X2.6 4B
Jump to: Side by side on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · How much use it takes to pay for the machine · Memory is not what separates them · The assumptions behind both columns
Side by side on the Mac mini M6, 16GB
The cheapest machine that runs either model is the same one, so this is the pair doing the same work on the same hardware: Mac mini M6, 16GB, at $899.
| Qwen3.5 4B | Spark-X2.6 4B | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed at 32k | 30 tok/s estimated | 30 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back on this machine | Pays back in 83 years | Pays back in 83 years |
| API cost per month | $1.00priced as Granite 4.2 8B | $1.00priced as Granite 4.2 8B |
Run Qwen3.5 4B on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · or Spark-X2.6 4B
How much use it takes to pay for the machine
Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both models at the five levels of use the calculator names, on the Mac mini M6, 16GB. Qwen3.5 4B is never the slower of the two to pay for it, at any level of use.
| A day's use | Qwen3.5 4B | Spark-X2.6 4B |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 831 years | 832 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 208 years | 208 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 42 years | 42 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 10 years | 10 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 2.1 years | 2.1 years |
Run Qwen3.5 4B at 20M tokens a day · or Spark-X2.6 4B
Memory is not what separates them
Qwen3.5 4B needs 3.8 GB of memory at 32k of context and Spark-X2.6 4B needs 3.9 GB. Every machine priced here that runs one runs the other, at 32k of context. So the choice between them is what each is good at, how fast it runs and what the same work costs on an API, not what you have to buy to hold it.
Qwen3.5 4B is also head to head with MiniCPM5 2B above it on the leaderboard and gpt-oss-120b below it. One more model needs much the same memory: Spark-X2.5 4B.
The assumptions behind both columns
Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Where nobody rents an open model by the token, its API prices are the nearest hosted model's, named beside them. Machines are the 37 here with a published price that are still sold. Change any of it in the calculator.
More head to head: every machine that runs Qwen3.5 4B · every machine that runs Spark-X2.6 4B · every other match-up · both against the frontier · the quickest pay-back at each level of use