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LongCat-Flash-Chat vs Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Meituan · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

LongCat-Flash-Chat outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose LongCat-Flash-Chat

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output

Choose Qwen3.8 Max

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

LongCat-Flash-Chat
Meituan
Qwen3.8 Max
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$1.20 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—
Released
Aug 2025
Aug 2026
License
MIT
Qwen3.8-Max License

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

LongCat-Flash-Chat outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1840.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 1840.0B more parameters than LongCat-Flash-Chat, making it 328.6% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Chat
560.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
560.0B
LongCat-Flash-Chat
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only LongCat-Flash-Chat specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only LongCat-Flash-Chat specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Chat
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Chat does not.

Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

LongCat-Flash-Chat

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

LongCat-Flash-Chat 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.

LongCat-Flash-Chat

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8-Max License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-Flash-Chat was released on 2025-08-29, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 11 months newer than LongCat-Flash-Chat.

LongCat-Flash-Chat

Aug 29, 2025

12 months ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

3 weeks ago

11mo 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 LongCat-Flash-Chat and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

LongCat-Flash-Chat
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Chat vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, LongCat-Flash-Chat or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Chat is made by Meituan and Qwen3.8 Max is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does LongCat-Flash-Chat compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

LongCat-Flash-Chat scores MATH-500: 96.4%, MMLU: 89.7%, IFEval: 89.6%, ZebraLogic: 89.3%, HumanEval: 88.4%. 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 LongCat-Flash-Chat and Qwen3.8 Max?

LongCat-Flash-Chat supports 128K tokens and Qwen3.8 Max supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between LongCat-Flash-Chat and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Qwen3.8-Max License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes LongCat-Flash-Chat and Qwen3.8 Max?

LongCat-Flash-Chat is developed by Meituan and Qwen3.8 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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