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Qwen3.8-27B vs Step-3.5-Flash

Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · StepFun · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3.8-27B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (LiveCodeBench v6), while Step-3.5-Flash is better at 0 benchmarks. Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Choose Qwen3.8-27B

  • 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

Choose Step-3.5-Flash

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Qwen3.8-27B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Step-3.5-Flash
StepFun
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
—
65,536
Released
Aug 2026
Feb 2026
License
Apache 2.0
Apache 2.0

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Qwen3.8-27B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (LiveCodeBench v6), while Step-3.5-Flash is better at 0 benchmarks.

Qwen3.8-27B 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

168.2B diff

Step-3.5-Flash has 168.2B more parameters than Qwen3.8-27B, making it 605.5% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8-27B
27.8Bparameters
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
196.0Bparameters
27.8B
Qwen3.8-27B
196.0B
Step-3.5-Flash

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Step-3.5-Flash specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Step-3.5-Flash specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8-27B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input65,536 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.8-27B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Step-3.5-Flash does not.

Qwen3.8-27B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Qwen3.8-27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step-3.5-Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Qwen3.8-27B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Step-3.5-Flash

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.8-27B was released on 2026-08-14, while Step-3.5-Flash was released on 2026-02-02.

Qwen3.8-27B is 6 months newer than Step-3.5-Flash.

Qwen3.8-27B

Aug 14, 2026

1 weeks ago

6mo newer
Step-3.5-Flash

Feb 2, 2026

6 months ago

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 Qwen3.8-27B and Step-3.5-Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.8-27B
✓ Preferred
Step-3.5-Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.8-27B vs Step-3.5-Flash.

Which is better, Qwen3.8-27B or Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.8-27B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Step-3.5-Flash is made by StepFun. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.8-27B compare to Step-3.5-Flash in benchmarks?

Qwen3.8-27B scores MathVision: 94.6%, OmniDocBench 1.5: 91.1%, LiveCodeBench v6: 90.3%, CharXiv-R: 90.2%, GPQA: 89.2%. Step-3.5-Flash scores AIME 2025: 97.3%, Tau-bench: 88.2%, LiveCodeBench v6: 86.4%, IMO-AnswerBench: 85.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 74.4%.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3.8-27B and Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3.8-27B supports an unknown number of tokens and Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3.8-27B and Step-3.5-Flash?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Qwen3.8-27B and Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3.8-27B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Step-3.5-Flash is developed by StepFun.

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