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Qwen3.5-9B 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?

Qwen3.5-9B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFBench, LongBench v2). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Qwen3.5-9B

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem

Choose Qwen3.8 Max

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Qwen3.5-9B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
0 of 3
3 of 3
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—
Released
Mar 2026
Aug 2026
License
Apache 2.0
Qwen3.8-Max License

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Qwen3.5-9B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFBench, LongBench v2).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2391.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2391.0B more parameters than Qwen3.5-9B, making it 26566.7% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.5-9B
9.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
9.0B
Qwen3.5-9B
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Qwen3.5-9B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3.5-9B 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.

Qwen3.5-9B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8-Max License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.5-9B was released on 2026-03-02, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 5 months newer than Qwen3.5-9B.

Qwen3.5-9B

Mar 2, 2026

5 months ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

3 weeks ago

5mo 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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.5-9B
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Qwen3.5-9B or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.5-9B 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 benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.5-9B compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Qwen3.5-9B scores IFEval: 91.5%, MMLU-Redux: 91.1%, C-Eval: 88.2%, MAXIFE: 83.4%, Global PIQA: 83.2%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 92.9%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%.

What are the main differences between Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Qwen3.8-Max License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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