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Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 23.8. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 5.1x cheaper per token.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3.8 Max leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 23.8, ranking #11 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.8 Max wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is roughly 5.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3.8 Max also accepts a larger context window (256,000 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-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

  • cost matters — it's about 5.1x cheaper per token

Choose Qwen3.8 Max

  • overall performance matters — it scores 51.9 and ranks #11 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
23.8
#171
51.9
#11
Reasoning
24.6
#154
50.6
#11
Agents
12.3
#102
37.7
#12
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
$0.15 / M
$1.65 / M
Output price
$1.50 / M
$4.95 / M
Context window
65,536
256,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Qwen3.8 Max
Math
26.5#102
33.8#52
Tool use
11.2#115
31.9#8
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

23 reported for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking · 42 for Qwen3.8 Max

1 shared

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Sep 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking costs less

For input processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens) is 11.0x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($1.65/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens) is 3.3x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($4.95/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3.8 Max is more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Sep 12 2026 • llm-stats.com
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$1.50
Best providerNovita
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input tokens$1.65
Output tokens$4.95
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2320.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2320.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking, making it 2900.0% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
80.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
80.0B
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3.8 Max accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking's 65,536 tokens. Qwen3.8 Max can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Input65,536 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Sat Sep 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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-Thinking

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8-Max License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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-Thinking.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Sep 10, 2025

1.0 years ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

1 months ago

10mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is available from Novita. Qwen3.8 Max is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Novita, Together.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M

Qwen3.8 Max

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $1.65/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.95/1M
fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M
together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $2.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.25/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 23.8. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Qwen3.8 Max is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking scores MMLU-Redux: 92.5%, IFEval: 88.9%, AIME 2025: 87.8%, WritingBench: 84.6%, MMLU-Pro: 82.7%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 92.9%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%.

Is Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 11.0x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking costs $0.15/M input and $1.50/M output via novita. Qwen3.8 Max costs $1.65/M input and $4.95/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking and Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking supports 66K tokens and Qwen3.8 Max supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (23.8 vs 51.9), context window (66K vs 256K), input pricing ($0.15 vs $1.65/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Qwen3.8-Max License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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