text model comparison
DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Qwen3.8-Max
DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max are both current text models, from DeepSeek and Alibaba Qwen. DeepSeek-V4-Pro is 34% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Qwen3.8-Max, $1.32 vs $2. On Arena Text, DeepSeek-V4-Pro scores 1465 Elo and Qwen3.8-Max 1482 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
- Higher Arena Text
- Qwen3.8-Max1482 Elo against 1465 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro$1.32 against $2
- Newer release
- DeepSeek-V4-ProAug 13, 2026 against Aug 2, 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | DeepSeek-V4-Pro | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $1.32 (better) | $2 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $3.96 (better) | $6 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1465 Elo (#27 of 51) | 1482 Elo (#13 of 51) (better) |
| Arena WebDev | 1582 Elo (#26 of 45) | 1672 Elo (#11 of 45) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 64.6% (#29 of 42) | 74.7% (#20 of 42) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 91.7% (#20 of 41) | 92.7% (#18 of 41) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 52.9% (#19 of 38) (better) | 45.8% (#24 of 38) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | DeepSeek | Alibaba Qwen |
| Release date | August 13, 2026 | August 2, 2026 |
| Access | API and open weights | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 384,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Input | text | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, DeepSeek-V4-Pro ranks #27 and Qwen3.8-Max #13 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#27of 51
1,465 Elo · ahead of 46%
Qwen3.8-Max:#13of 51
1,482 Elo · ahead of 72%
Arena WebDev
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#26of 45
1,582 Elo · ahead of 41%
Qwen3.8-Max:#11of 45
1,672 Elo · ahead of 77%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#29of 42
64.6% · ahead of 32%
Qwen3.8-Max:#20of 42
74.7% · ahead of 54%
GPQA Diamond
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#20of 41
91.7% · ahead of 53%
Qwen3.8-Max:#18of 41
92.7% · ahead of 55%
SimpleQA Verified
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#19of 38
52.9% · ahead of 51%
Qwen3.8-Max:#24of 38
45.8% · ahead of 38%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#26of 52
$1.32 · cheaper than 51%
Qwen3.8-Max:#29of 52
$2 · cheaper than 24%
Price per 1M output tokens
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#24of 52
$3.96 · cheaper than 55%
Qwen3.8-Max:#28of 52
$6 · cheaper than 41%
Context window
DeepSeek-V4-Pro:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Qwen3.8-Max:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Quality against price
DeepSeek-V4-Pro scores 1,465 at $1.98; Qwen3.8-Max scores 1,482 at $3 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Qwen3.8-Max costs 1.5 times as much as DeepSeek-V4-Pro, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Qwen3.8-Max costs 1.5× as much
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro
- $21.12
- Qwen3.8-Max
- $32
| Workload or rate | DeepSeek-V4-Pro | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $21.12 (better) | $32 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $9.64 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.044 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, off peak | $0.66 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, off peak | $1.98 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, off-peak, cached | $0.022 | Not listed |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
DeepSeek-V4-Pro
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $1.32 and $3.96 vs $2 and $6 per 1M tokens
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 52.9% vs 45.8%
- Longer responses, up to 384,000 vs 131,072 output tokens
- Open weights you can run yourself
- A cached-input rate, $0.044 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Agentic coding and terminal tasks
- Long-context jobs that need very long outputs
Watch out for
- The recorded rates are peak-hour prices (01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays)
- No image input on the DeepSeek API, where the cheaper deepseek-flash has it
- DeepSeek had planned to retire it in September before extending service, so check its status before a long commitment
Qwen3.8-Max
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1482 Elo vs 1465 Elo
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1672 Elo vs 1582 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 74.7% vs 64.6%
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 92.7% vs 91.7%
- Accepts image and video input
Best for
- Output-heavy generation workloads where the $6 per million output rate is the deciding factor
- Agentic and coding evaluations that need a 1M-token window at mid-tier cost
Watch out for
- Two releases share the name: the original 2 August 2026 model and the 0902 refresh, a separate id at the same price
- The recorded rates are the international (Singapore) price; the Global and Beijing listings charge $1.65 input and $4.951 output per 1M tokens
- Alibaba publishes no fixed cached-input rate for it
From benchmark to production
Building on DeepSeek-V4-Pro or Qwen3.8-Max?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Qwen3.8-Max FAQ
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V4-Pro or Qwen3.8-Max?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro is 34% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Qwen3.8-Max, $1.32 vs $2. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, DeepSeek-V4-Pro costs $21.12 and Qwen3.8-Max $32 at standard rates.
Do DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max discount cached input?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro lists a cached-input rate of $0.044 per 1M tokens, 97% below its standard input rate. No cached-input rate is listed for Qwen3.8-Max.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, DeepSeek-V4-Pro or Qwen3.8-Max?
Qwen3.8-Max leads on Arena Text, 1482 Elo to 1465 Elo; Qwen3.8-Max leads on Arena WebDev, 1672 Elo to 1582 Elo; Qwen3.8-Max leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 74.7% to 64.6%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek-V4-Pro or Qwen3.8-Max?
Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context. DeepSeek-V4-Pro returns up to 384,000 tokens per response, Qwen3.8-Max 131,072.
How do DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max differ in features?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro takes text input; Qwen3.8-Max takes text, image and video.
Can I run DeepSeek-V4-Pro or Qwen3.8-Max myself?
DeepSeek-V4-Pro is released as open weights you can run yourself; Qwen3.8-Max is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max
Related comparisons
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Mistral Large 4
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Qwen3.8-Max
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs DeepSeek-V4-Pro
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8-Max
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs GLM-5.3
- GPT-6 Luna vs Qwen3.8-Max
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Qwen3.8-Max
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Grok 4.20
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Qwen3.8-Max
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Grok 4.3
- GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.8-Max
Production evaluation
Choosing between DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Qwen3.8-Max?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty