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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GPT-6 Luna vs Qwen3.8-Max

GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max are both current text models, from OpenAI and Alibaba Qwen. GPT-6 Luna is 95% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Qwen3.8-Max, $0.10 vs $2. On Arena Text, GPT-6 Luna scores 1443 Elo and Qwen3.8-Max 1483 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). GPT-6 Luna has the larger context window, 1,050,000 vs 1,000,000 tokens.

Higher Arena Text
Qwen3.8-Max1483 Elo against 1443 Elo
Lower price per 1M input tokens
GPT-6 Luna$0.10 against $2
Longer context window
GPT-6 Luna1.05M tokens against 1M tokens
Newer release
GPT-6 LunaSep 2026 against Aug 2026

Data verified October 13, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-28

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Side by side

GPT-6 Luna 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.

FactGPT-6 LunaQwen3.8-Max
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$0.10 (better)$2
Price per 1M output tokens$0.50 (better)$6
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1443 Elo (#37 of 49)1483 Elo (#13 of 49) (better)
GPQA Diamond90.5% (#25 of 40)92.7% (#17 of 40) (better)
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)78.9% (#14 of 40) (better)74.7% (#17 of 40)
SimpleQA Verified41.4% (#26 of 36)45.8% (#23 of 36) (better)
Specs
ProviderOpenAIAlibaba Qwen
Release dateSeptember 22, 2026August 2, 2026
AccessAPI onlyAPI only
Context window1,050,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputtext, imagetext, image, video
Outputtexttext

Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Open both in the interactive comparison

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GPT-6 Luna 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, GPT-6 Luna ranks #37 and Qwen3.8-Max #13 of 49 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.

GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GPT-6 Luna:#37of 49

1,443 Elo · ahead of 23%

Qwen3.8-Max:#13of 49

1,483 Elo · ahead of 75%

GPQA Diamond

GPT-6 Luna:#25of 40

90.5% · ahead of 36%

Qwen3.8-Max:#17of 40

92.7% · ahead of 56%

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GPT-6 Luna:#14of 40

78.9% · ahead of 67%

Qwen3.8-Max:#17of 40

74.7% · ahead of 59%

SimpleQA Verified

GPT-6 Luna:#26of 36

41.4% · ahead of 29%

Qwen3.8-Max:#23of 36

45.8% · ahead of 37%

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GPT-6 Luna:#1of 51

$0.10 · cheaper than 96%

Qwen3.8-Max:#28of 51

$2 · cheaper than 24%

Price per 1M output tokens

GPT-6 Luna:#3of 51

$0.50 · cheaper than 92%

Qwen3.8-Max:#27of 51

$6 · cheaper than 42%

Context window

GPT-6 Luna:#1of 66

1.05M tokens · longer than 86%

Qwen3.8-Max:#28of 66

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Scores fromArena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 8, 2026

GPT-6 Luna scores 1,443 at $0.2; Qwen3.8-Max scores 1,483 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 priceArena Text score against price for 41 text models, GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)Qwen3.8-MaxGPT-6 Luna
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 41 text models, GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,525
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,501
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,497
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,494
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,490
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
Gemini 3.7 FlashGoogle$1.501,486
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,484
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,478
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,475
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,475
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,466
Grok 4.5xAI$31,466
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,461
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,456
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,455
Grok 4.6xAI$31,454
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,452
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,451
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,443
Grok 4.7xAI$31,443
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$2.061,429
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,386
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

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 16 times as much as GPT-6 Luna, at each provider's listed rates.

What GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Maxcost for the same work, at each provider's listed rates.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    Qwen3.8-Max costs 16× as much

    GPT-6 Luna
    $2
    Qwen3.8-Max
    $32
Workload or rateGPT-6 LunaQwen3.8-Max
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$2 (better)$32
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$1.19Not listed
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.01Not listed
1M input tokens, prompts over 272K tokens$0.20Not listed
1M output tokens, prompts over 272K tokens$0.75Not listed

Verdict

When to choose each

GPT-6 Luna

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $0.10 and $0.50 vs $2 and $6 per 1M tokens
  • Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 78.9% vs 74.7%
  • Larger context window 1,050,000 vs 1,000,000 tokens
  • A cached-input rate, $0.01 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • High-volume summarisation, extraction and routing
  • Long-context budget work, where the 272k threshold is more forgiving than Haiku 5.5's 100k

Watch out for

  • Prompts over 272,000 tokens are rebilled at $0.20 input and $0.75 output for the whole request
  • A twentieth of GPT-6 Sol's price reflects a capability gap, not a discount on the same model
Full GPT-6 Luna profile

Qwen3.8-Max

Where it leads

  • Higher Arena Text score, 1483 Elo vs 1443 Elo
  • Higher GPQA Diamond score, 92.7% vs 90.5%
  • Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 45.8% vs 41.4%
  • Accepts 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
Full Qwen3.8-Max profile

From benchmark to production

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FAQ

GPT-6 Luna vs Qwen3.8-Max FAQ

Which is cheaper, GPT-6 Luna or Qwen3.8-Max?

GPT-6 Luna is 95% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Qwen3.8-Max, $0.10 vs $2. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-6 Luna costs $2 and Qwen3.8-Max $32 at standard rates.

Do GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max discount cached input?

GPT-6 Luna lists a cached-input rate of $0.01 per 1M tokens, 90% below its standard input rate. No cached-input rate is listed for Qwen3.8-Max.

Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GPT-6 Luna or Qwen3.8-Max?

Qwen3.8-Max leads on Arena Text, 1483 Elo to 1443 Elo; Qwen3.8-Max leads on GPQA Diamond, 92.7% to 90.5%; GPT-6 Luna leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 78.9% to 74.7%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-6 Luna or Qwen3.8-Max?

GPT-6 Luna has the larger context window, 1,050,000 vs 1,000,000 tokens. Qwen3.8-Max returns up to 131,072 tokens per response, GPT-6 Luna 128,000.

How do GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max differ in features?

GPT-6 Luna takes text and image input; Qwen3.8-Max takes text, image and video.

Further reading

More on GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max

Articles on GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max

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Production evaluation

Choosing between GPT-6 Luna and Qwen3.8-Max?

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  • A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
  • Routing between models by cost and difficulty
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