Model Comparison

LongCat-Flash-Lite vs Qwen3.8 MaxWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: LongCat-Flash-Lite vs Qwen3.8 Max — which is better?

LongCat-Flash-Lite (by Meituan) and Qwen3.8 Max (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

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

Choose LongCat-Flash-Lite if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen3.8 Max if…

  • 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

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

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

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2331.5B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2331.5B more parameters than LongCat-Flash-Lite, making it 3403.6% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
68.5Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
68.5B
LongCat-Flash-Lite
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only LongCat-Flash-Lite specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only LongCat-Flash-Lite specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
Input256,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

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

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

LongCat-Flash-Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

LongCat-Flash-Lite is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3.8 Max uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

LongCat-Flash-Lite

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-Flash-Lite was released on 2026-02-05, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 6 months newer than LongCat-Flash-Lite.

LongCat-Flash-Lite

Feb 5, 2026

6 months ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

2 days ago

5mo 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→

Key Takeaways

Meituan
Larger context window (256,000 tokens)
Has open weights
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.8 Max

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (92.6% vs 66.8%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against LongCat-Flash-Lite and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

LongCat-Flash-Lite
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max

FAQ

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

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

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Lite 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-Lite compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

LongCat-Flash-Lite scores MATH-500: 96.8%, MMLU: 85.5%, CMMLU: 82.5%, MMLU-Pro: 78.3%, Tau2 Retail: 73.1%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 86.6%.

What are the context window sizes for LongCat-Flash-Lite and Qwen3.8 Max?

LongCat-Flash-Lite supports 256K 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-Lite and Qwen3.8 Max?

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

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

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

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