GLM-5.1 vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Zhipu AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
GLM-5.1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam), while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 5 benchmarks (FrontierSWE, GPQA, NL2Repo, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose GLM-5.1
- you want predictable pricing at $1.40/M input and $4.40/M output
Choose Qwen3.8 Max
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GLM-5.1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam), while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 5 benchmarks (FrontierSWE, GPQA, NL2Repo, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon).
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 1646.0B more parameters than GLM-5.1, making it 218.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only GLM-5.1 specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only GLM-5.1 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas GLM-5.1 does not.
Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
GLM-5.1
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
GLM-5.1 is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3.8 Max uses Qwen3.8-Max License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Qwen3.8-Max License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GLM-5.1 was released on 2026-04-07, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 4 months newer than GLM-5.1.
Apr 7, 2026
4 months ago
Aug 2, 2026
3 weeks ago
3mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GLM-5.1 and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about GLM-5.1 vs Qwen3.8 Max.