Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
- you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $1.50/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
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking has 52.2B more parameters than Qwen3.8-27B, making it 188.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking specifies output context (65,536 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8-27B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking does not.
Qwen3.8-27B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Qwen3.8-27B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking was released on 2025-09-10, while Qwen3.8-27B was released on 2026-08-14.
Qwen3.8-27B is 11 months newer than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.
Sep 10, 2025
11 months ago
Aug 14, 2026
1 weeks ago
11mo 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-Thinking and Qwen3.8-27B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3.8-27B.