Qwen3.5-397B-A17B vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is 1.8x cheaper per token.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, IFBench, LongBench v2, Toolathlon, WideSearch). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is roughly 1.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
- cost matters — it's about 1.8x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
Choose Qwen3.8 Max
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 6 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
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, IFBench, LongBench v2, Toolathlon, WideSearch).
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3.5-397B-A17B ($0.60/1M tokens) is 2.8x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($1.65/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3.5-397B-A17B ($3.60/1M tokens) is 1.4x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($4.95/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3.8 Max is more expensive than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 2003.0B more parameters than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B, making it 504.5% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3.8 Max's 256,000 tokens. Qwen3.8 Max can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Qwen3.5-397B-A17B and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B 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
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B was released on 2026-02-16, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 6 months newer than Qwen3.5-397B-A17B.
Feb 16, 2026
6 months ago
Aug 2, 2026
3 weeks ago
5mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B is available from Novita. Qwen3.8 Max is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Novita, Together.
Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
Qwen3.8 Max
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3.5-397B-A17B and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3.5-397B-A17B vs Qwen3.8 Max.