Compare / Qwen3.8-Max (0902) vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 24 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 24 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). See also Alibaba vs OpenAI, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra? The short answer
Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902): it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 42.1) and costs less. Pick GPT-5.6 Terra only if speed matters more: it writes faster.
- Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is cheaper: $3.00 against $4.50 per million tokens, 33% less.
- Qwen3.8-Max (0902) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 45.4 against 42.1.
- GPT-5.6 Terra writes faster: 99 tokens a second against 37.
- Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is newer: released 3 Aug 2026, against 9 Jul 2026 for GPT-5.6 Terra.
- 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; GPT-5.6 Terra for professional work.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.8-Max (0902) | GPT-5.6 Terra | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $2.00 in · $6.00 out | $2.00 in · $12.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $3.00 | $4.50 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $4.50 (Azure) |
| Cached input, per million | – | $0.20 cached input |
| Intelligence Index | 45.4 | 42.1 |
| Spring Prompt overall | 48 | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | 37 | 99 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens |
| Released | 3 Aug 2026 (newer) | 9 Jul 2026 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
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.
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.
| Measure | Qwen3.8-Max (0902) | GPT-5.6 Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 20 · 44 of 387 measured | 1,482 | 1,465xhigh reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 22 · 30 of 163 measured | 1,472 | 1,466xhigh reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 16 · 38 of 380 measured | 1,484 | 1,467xhigh reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 14 · 19 of 243 measured | 45.4 | 42.1max reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 15 · 20 of 231 measured | 92.8% | 92.5%max reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 24 · 27 of 242 measured | 43.1% | 42.9%max reasoning |
| GDP.pdf reported by GDP.pdf · 1 result | ||
| Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 13 · 8 of 32 measured | 23.2%xhigh reasoning | 24.7% |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 30 · 39 of 76 measured | 47.3%xhigh reasoning | 43.2%max reasoning |
Show all 24 results (16 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.8-Max (0902) | GPT-5.6 Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 8 results | ||
| Confirmed task success · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 20 · 35 of 48 measured | 0.05arena agent | -0.04xhigh reasoning, arena agent |
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 17 · 65 of 385 measured | 1,468 | 1,426xhigh reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 20 · 30 of 338 measured | 1,513 | 1,504xhigh reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 25 · 39 of 387 measured | 1,474 | 1,461xhigh reasoning |
| Praise over complaint · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 20 · 22 of 48 measured | 0.03arena agent | 0.03xhigh reasoning, arena agent |
| Steerability · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 18 · 19 of 48 measured | 0.03arena agent | 0.02xhigh reasoning, arena agent |
| Tool grounding · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 43 · 33 of 48 measured | -0.01arena agent | 0.00xhigh reasoning, arena agent |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 18 · 54 of 386 measured | 1,472 | 1,445xhigh reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 8 results | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 5 · 7 of 130 measured | 88.8% | 88.0%max reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 12 · 13 of 112 measured | 38.9% | 35.4%max reasoning |
| τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 18 of 121 measured | 47.8% | 40.2%max reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 10 · 6 of 131 measured | 76.2 | 76.7max reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 35 · 15 of 233 measured | 80.3% | 83.0%max reasoning |
| Output speedtokens per second, higher is better 71 · 36 of 74 measured | 37.0 | 99.1max reasoning |
| SciCode% of problems, higher is better 36 · 23 of 113 measured | 52.1% | 55.0%max reasoning |
| Time to first answer tokenseconds, lower is better 74 · 18 of 74 measured | 55.8 | 0.76no reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.8-Max (0902) better than GPT-5.6 Terra?
Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902): it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 42.1) and costs less. Pick GPT-5.6 Terra only if speed matters more: it writes faster.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is cheaper: $3.00 against $4.50 per million tokens, 33% less.
Which is faster, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra writes about 99 tokens a second on its usual API, against 37 for Qwen3.8-Max (0902) (Artificial Analysis).
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 7 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 16 for GPT-5.6 Terra.
Which is better for professional work, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra ranks 10 of 51 models on sale for real tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects, against 18 for Qwen3.8-Max (0902).
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 17 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 21 for GPT-5.6 Terra.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 16 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 39 for GPT-5.6 Terra.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra: 1,050,000 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8-Max (0902).
Run Qwen3.8-Max (0902) and GPT-5.6 Terra on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.