Compare / Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs Qwen3.8-Max (0902)

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview vs Qwen3.8-Max (0902)

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 12 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3.6-Max-Preview Released 20 Apr 2026 · $1.03 in · $6.16 out
AlibabaQwen3.8-Max (0902) Released 3 Aug 2026 · $2.00 in · $6.00 out
Qwen3.6-Max-Preview wins 23 too close to callQwen3.8-Max (0902) wins 7

Of the 12 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).

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview 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 28.4). Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview if cost matters more: it costs 23% less per token.

  • Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.00 per million tokens, 23% less.
  • Qwen3.8-Max (0902) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 45.4 against 28.4.
  • Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is newer: released 3 Aug 2026, against 20 Apr 2026 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.8-Max (0902) does better for reasoning and knowledge and writing.

Head to head

28.4
Intelligence Index
45.4
$2.31
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$3.00
262,144
Context window, tokens
1,000,000

Every fact side by side

Qwen3.6-Max-PreviewQwen3.8-Max (0902)
Price per million tokens$1.03 in · $6.16 out$2.00 in · $6.00 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$2.31$3.00
Cheapest host, blended––
Intelligence Index28.445.4
Spring Prompt overall–48
Output speed, tokens a second–37
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Released20 Apr 20263 Aug 2026 (newer)
WeightsClosedClosed
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 81 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 59 of 198 17 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 41 of 188 16 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 45 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.

MeasureQwen3.6-Max-PreviewQwen3.8-Max (0902)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 51 · 20 of 387 measured 1,460 1,482
Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 51 · 22 of 163 measured 1,453 1,472
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 64 · 16 of 380 measured 1,451 1,484
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 57 · 14 of 243 measured 28.4 45.4
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 55 · 15 of 231 measured 88.8% 92.8%
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 70 · 24 of 242 measured 30.8% 43.1%
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result
Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 21 · 30 of 76 measured 52.0% 47.3%xhigh reasoning
Show all 12 results (5 more)
MeasureQwen3.6-Max-PreviewQwen3.8-Max (0902)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 17 of 385 measured 1,437 1,468
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 36 · 20 of 338 measured 1,500 1,513
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 56 · 25 of 387 measured 1,450 1,474
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 50 · 18 of 386 measured 1,446 1,472
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 1 result
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 33 · 35 of 233 measured 80.7% 80.3%

Quick answers

Is Qwen3.6-Max-Preview better than Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902) if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 28.4). Pick Qwen3.6-Max-Preview if cost matters more: it costs 23% less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.6-Max-Preview is cheaper: $2.31 against $3.00 per million tokens, 23% less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview 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 81 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview 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 59 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview 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 41 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview 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 45 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Max-Preview or Qwen3.8-Max (0902)?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902): 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6-Max-Preview.

Run Qwen3.6-Max-Preview and Qwen3.8-Max (0902) on your own prompt

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