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Grok-2 mini vs Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 8.6.

xAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3.8 Max leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 8.6, ranking #11 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.8 Max wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Grok-2 mini

  • you are already invested in the xAI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3.8 Max

  • overall performance matters — it scores 51.9 and ranks #11 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
8.6
#276
51.9
#11
8.2
#273
50.6
#11
5.9
#193
39.6
#14
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
— / M
$1.65 / M
Output price
— / M
$4.95 / M
Context window
256,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Grok-2 mini
Qwen3.8 Max
15.8#212
33.8#52
5.8#149
37.7#5
9.0#121
39.4#1
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

8 reported for Grok-2 mini · 42 for Qwen3.8 Max

1 shared

Grok-2 mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Sep 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3.8 Max specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Qwen3.8 Max specifies output context (256,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-2 mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Thu Sep 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Grok-2 mini and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Grok-2 mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-2 mini is licensed under a proprietary license, 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.

Grok-2 mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8-Max License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-2 mini was released on 2024-08-13, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 24 months newer than Grok-2 mini.

Grok-2 mini

Aug 13, 2024

2.1 years ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

1 months ago

2.0yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-2 mini and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-2 mini
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-2 mini vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Grok-2 mini or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 8.6. Grok-2 mini is made by xAI and Qwen3.8 Max is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Grok-2 mini compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Grok-2 mini scores DocVQA: 93.2%, MMLU: 86.2%, HumanEval: 85.7%, MATH: 73.0%, MMLU-Pro: 72.0%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 92.9%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-2 mini and Qwen3.8 Max?

Grok-2 mini supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3.8 Max supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-2 mini and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (8.6 vs 51.9), licensing (Proprietary vs Qwen3.8-Max License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-2 mini and Qwen3.8 Max?

Grok-2 mini is developed by xAI and Qwen3.8 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.