Model Comparison
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 vs Qwen3.8 MaxWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 vs Qwen3.8 Max — which is better?
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 (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-Thinking-2601 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 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 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam).
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 1840.0B more parameters than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601, making it 328.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 does not.
Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 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.
MIT
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 was released on 2026-01-14, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 7 months newer than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.
Jan 14, 2026
6 months ago
Aug 2, 2026
3 days ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3.8 Max
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 vs Qwen3.8 Max.