Qwen3.8-Max benchmarks, pricing and specs
Qwen3.8-Max is an Alibaba Qwen model released on August 3, 2026 that takes text, image and video input and produces text. It costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $6 per 1M output tokens and accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. It scores 1483 Elo on Arena Text, #12 of 39 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026).
- Per 1M input tokens
- $2
- Per 1M output tokens
- $6
- Context window
- 1M
- Arena Text
- 1483 Elo · #12/39
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Key facts
- Provider
- Alibaba Qwen
- Model family
- Qwen3.8
- Release date
- August 3, 2026
- Status
- Current
- Access
- API only
- API model id
- Not reported
- Context window
- 1,000,000 tokens
- Max output
- 131,072 tokens
- Input
- text, image, video
- Output
- text
- Task families
- text, multimodal
- Declared capabilities
- reasoning
Qwen3.8-Max pricing
It is the #12 most expensive of 37 current text models priced per 1M input tokens.
Independent benchmark results
Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. Alibaba Qwen's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.
| Benchmark | Score | Rank | Measured | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arena Text | 1483 Elo | #12 of 39 | October 8, 2026 | Arena · 2026-10-12 |
| GPQA Diamond | 92.7% | #17 of 37 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 74.7% | #17 of 37 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 45.8% | #22 of 34 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
Strengths, cautions and best uses
Strengths
- A 2.4-trillion-parameter mixture-of-experts model activating about 95 billion parameters per query, with a 1M-token context window and reasoning enabled by default
- Output is the cheapest of any frontier-tier text model here at $6 per million, an eighth of GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1
- Accepts text, image and video input and returns text
- The 0902 post-training refresh (2 September 2026) targets coding and agent performance specifically
Cautions
- Two releases share the name: the original 3 August 2026 model and the 0902 refresh. The rates and limits here are read from the 0902 listing
- Reported benchmark placements come from Alibaba and from public arena boards rather than a common pinned snapshot, so they are not comparable with the LiveBench results in this dataset
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
Alternatives to Qwen3.8-Max
The closest current textmodels by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.
Cheaper, same or higher score
Gemini 3.8 Flash
- 63% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.75 vs $2
- 14 points higher on Arena Text, 1497 vs 1483
- From Google
Claude Sonnet 5
- Same price per 1M input tokens, $2
- 22 points lower on Arena Text, 1461 vs 1483
- From Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Same price per 1M input tokens, $2
- 7 points lower on Arena Text, 1476 vs 1483
- From Anthropic
GPT-4.1
- Same price per 1M input tokens, $2
- 68 points lower on Arena Text, 1415 vs 1483
- From OpenAI
Compare Qwen3.8-Max with
Other Qwen3.8 models
Qwen3.8-Max FAQ
How much does Qwen3.8-Max cost?
Qwen3.8-Max costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $6 per 1M output tokens at the standard tier. It is the #12 most expensive of 37 current text models priced per 1M input tokens. Source: OpenRouter, verified September 9, 2026.
What is the context window of Qwen3.8-Max?
Qwen3.8-Max accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. It can return up to 131,072 tokens in one response. That ranks #24 of 44 current text models by context length.
How does Qwen3.8-Max score on independent benchmarks?
Qwen3.8-Max scores 1483 Elo on Arena Text, #12 of 39 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026), 92.7% on GPQA Diamond, #17 of 37 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026) and 74.7% on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), #17 of 37 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026). These are independent evaluations, not Alibaba Qwen's own launch figures.
Is Qwen3.8-Max open source or API only?
Qwen3.8-Max is available through Alibaba Qwen's API only; its weights are not published.
What are the best alternatives to Qwen3.8-Max?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are Gemini 3.8 Flash (63% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.75 vs $2), Claude Sonnet 5 (same price per 1M input tokens, $2), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (same price per 1M input tokens, $2) and GPT-4.1 (same price per 1M input tokens, $2).
Sources
- Alibaba Cloud Model Studio model list · Alibaba Cloud · official · verified September 9, 2026
- OpenRouter models API catalogue · OpenRouter · independent · verified September 9, 2026
- Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub data (benchmark_data.zip) · Epoch AI · independent · verified October 12, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
- Arena leaderboard dataset (lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) · Arena · independent · verified October 12, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
Cite this page
Van Data Team. "Qwen3.8-Max Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-12. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/qwen3-8-max
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Production evaluation
Deciding whether Qwen3.8-Max fits your workload?
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