Compare / Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 vs Qwen3.8-Max (0902)

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 vs Qwen3.8-Max (0902)

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 Released 25 Jul 2025 · $0.30 in · $3.00 out
AlibabaQwen3.8-Max (0902) Released 3 Aug 2026 · $2.00 in · $6.00 out
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 wins 0Qwen3.8-Max (0902) wins 16

Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.

Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5).

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)? The short answer

Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902) if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 12.7). Pick Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 if cost matters more: it costs 3.1 times less per token.

  • Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is cheaper: $0.97 against $3.00 per million tokens, 3.1 times less.
  • Qwen3.8-Max (0902) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 45.4 against 12.7.
  • Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is newer: released 3 Aug 2026, against 25 Jul 2025 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.8-Max (0902) does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.

Head to head

12.7
Intelligence Index
45.4
$0.97
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$3.00
131,072
Context window, tokens
1,000,000

Every fact side by side

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Price per million tokens$0.30 in · $3.00 out$2.00 in · $6.00 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.97$3.00
Cheapest host, blended$0.75 (Alibaba)–
Intelligence Index12.745.4
Spring Prompt overall–48
Output speed, tokens a second–37
Context window131,072 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Released25 Jul 20253 Aug 2026 (newer)
WeightsOpenClosed
Developer based inChinaChina

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live not measured 17 of 20
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is not measured 11 of 19
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending not measured 14 of 19
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 138 of 164 7 of 164
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects not measured 18 of 51
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 117 of 198 17 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 122 of 188 16 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 92 of 152 38 of 152
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) not measured 24 of 24

Every shared result

Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.

MeasureQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 139 · 20 of 387 measured 1,400 1,482
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 133 · 16 of 380 measured 1,404 1,484
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 133 · 17 of 385 measured 1,371 1,468
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 147 · 14 of 243 measured 12.7 45.4
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 114 · 15 of 231 measured 79.0% 92.8%
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 122 · 24 of 242 measured 15.9% 43.1%
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result
Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 44 · 30 of 76 measured 40.4% 47.3%xhigh reasoning
Show all 16 results (9 more)
MeasureQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 85 · 20 of 338 measured 1,466 1,513
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 142 · 25 of 387 measured 1,385 1,474
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 139 · 18 of 386 measured 1,377 1,472
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 6 results
Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 101 · 5 of 130 measured 12.0% 88.8%
Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 66 · 12 of 112 measured 0.0% 38.9%
τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 87 · 7 of 121 measured 7.8% 47.8%
Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 98 · 10 of 131 measured 22.1 76.2
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 99 · 35 of 233 measured 72.0% 80.3%
SciCode% of problems, higher is better 74 · 36 of 113 measured 41.4% 52.1%

Quick answers

Is Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 better than Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902) if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 12.7). Pick Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 if cost matters more: it costs 3.1 times less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is cheaper: $0.97 against $3.00 per million tokens, 3.1 times less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 7 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 138 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 17 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 117 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 16 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 122 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 38 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 92 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902): 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.

Run Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 and Qwen3.8-Max (0902) on your own prompt

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