Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.8-27B
Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3 Max outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6). Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen3 Max
- you want predictable pricing at $0.50/M input and $5.00/M output
Choose Qwen3.8-27B
- 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
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3 Max outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6).
Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 Max has 972.2B more parameters than Qwen3.8-27B, making it 3499.5% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 Max specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Qwen3 Max specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8-27B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 Max does not.
Qwen3.8-27B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3 Max
Qwen3.8-27B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Qwen3 Max is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3.8-27B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15, while Qwen3.8-27B was released on 2026-08-14.
Qwen3.8-27B is 8 months newer than Qwen3 Max.
Dec 15, 2025
8 months ago
Aug 14, 2026
1 weeks ago
8mo 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 Qwen3 Max and Qwen3.8-27B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.8-27B.