Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct 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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
- you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $1.50/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.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 2320.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct, making it 2900.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies output context (65,536 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct does not.
Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, 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.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Qwen3.8-Max License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct was released on 2025-09-10, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 11 months newer than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.
Sep 10, 2025
11 months ago
Aug 2, 2026
3 weeks ago
10mo 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-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max.