Best AI for coding / head-to-head

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.7 Maxfor coding

The verdict

GPT-5.6 Sol wins, 9390

Same 18 coding tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Sol took 8 tasks, Qwen3.7 Max took 2, 8 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Retry with backoff

Write an async retry wrapper in TypeScript: exponential backoff with jitter, a maximum attempt count, and it must NOT retry on 4xx responses other than 429. Maximum 30 lines. State what happens on the final failure.

```ts
type RetryOptions = {
  maxAttempts: number;
  baseDelayMs?: number;
  maxDelayMs?: number;
};

export async function retry<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
  { maxAttempts, baseDelayMs = 200, maxDelayMs = 10_000 }: RetryOptions
): Promise<T> {
  if (maxAttempts < 1) throw new Error("maxAttempts must be at least 1");

  for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await operation();
    } catch (error) {
      const e = error as { status?: number; response?: { status?: number } };
      const status = e.status ?? e.respon…
```typescript
async function retry<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, maxAttempts: number): Promise<T> {
  let lastError: any;
  for (let i = 0; i < maxAttempts; i++) {
    try { return await fn(); }
    catch (e: any) {
      lastError = e;
      const s = e?.status ?? e?.response?.status;
      if (s >= 400 && s < 500 && s !== 429) throw e;
      if (i === maxAttempts - 1) break;
      const delay = Math.min(10000, 100 * 2 ** i * (0.5 + Math.random()));
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
    }
  }
  throw lastError;
}
```
**Final failu…

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.6 SolQwen3.7 Max
Duration parser1010
Find the bug99
SQL without window functions109
Infinite useEffect1010
Typed debounce98
Leftmost binary search1010
Security review109
Safe migration98
Fix the code not the test109
Race condition99
Retry with backoff810
Recursive type99
Bash one-liner99
Explain and cost99
Regex with limits98
Callback to async910
Diagnose from a trace98
Idempotency98

Full receipts: GPT-5.6 Sol, Qwen3.7 Max · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for coding: GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen3.7 Max?

GPT-5.6 Sol — it scored 93/100 against 90/100 on our 18-task coding suite, winning 8 tasks to 2 with 8 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published coding tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More coding head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Luna vs Qwen3.7 Max · GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol

Full ranking: Best AI for coding · model pages: GPT-5.6 Sol, Qwen3.7 Max