Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen3.8 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 49.6 to 21.8. Qwen3.8 Flash is 7.1x cheaper per token.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3.8 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 49.6 to 21.8, ranking #16 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.8 Flash wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3.8 Flash is roughly 7.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3.8 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, 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 Flash
- overall performance matters — it scores 49.6 and ranks #16 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 7.1x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
6 reported for Qwen3 Max · 22 for Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen3 Max outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Flash is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6).
Qwen3.8 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3 Max ($0.50/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Qwen3.8 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3 Max ($5.00/1M tokens) is 10.6x more expensive than Qwen3.8 Flash ($0.47/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 Max is more expensive than Qwen3.8 Flash.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 Max has 875.0B more parameters than Qwen3.8 Flash, making it 700.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.8 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 Max's 256,000 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 131,072 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3.8 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 Max does not.
Qwen3.8 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3 Max
Qwen3.8 Flash
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15, while Qwen3.8 Flash was released on 2026-08-26.
Qwen3.8 Flash is 8 months newer than Qwen3 Max.
Dec 15, 2025
8 months ago
Aug 26, 2026
4 days ago
8mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3 Max is available from Novita. Qwen3.8 Flash is available from Novita.
Qwen3 Max
Qwen3.8 Flash
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3 Max and Qwen3.8 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3.8 Flash.