Compare / Qwen3.8-Max (0902) vs Inkling
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) vs Inkling
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 25 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 25 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 13 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-13-2e2420e3c5cc).
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling? The short answer
Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902) if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 25.0). Pick Inkling if cost matters more: it costs 43% less per token. Inkling is also faster.
- Inkling is cheaper: $1.72 against $3.00 per million tokens, 43% less.
- Qwen3.8-Max (0902) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 45.4 against 25.0.
- Inkling writes faster: 153 tokens a second against 37.
- Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is newer: released 3 Aug 2026, against 15 Jul 2026 for Inkling.
- 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
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.8-Max (0902) | Inkling | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $2.00 in · $6.00 out | $0.95 in · $4.05 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $3.00 | $1.72 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $1.72 (DeepInfra, FP8) |
| Intelligence Index | 45.4 | 25.0 |
| Spring Prompt overall | 47 | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | 37 | 153 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 524,288 tokens |
| Released | 3 Aug 2026 (newer) | 15 Jul 2026 |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| 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) | Inkling |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 20 · 83 of 387 measured | 1,482 | 1,441 |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 22 · 58 of 163 measured | 1,472 | 1,451 |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 16 · 80 of 380 measured | 1,484 | 1,444 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 14 · 76 of 243 measured | 45.4 | 25.0xhigh reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 15 · 65 of 231 measured | 92.8% | 87.2%xhigh reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 24 · 69 of 242 measured | 43.1% | 31.9%xhigh reasoning |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 30 · 45 of 76 measured | 47.3%xhigh reasoning | 40.3%xhigh reasoning |
| τ²-bench reported by τ²-bench · 2 results | ||
| Consistency (pass^4) · tau2 v1.0.1, banking knowledge, alltools retrieval% of tasks, higher is better 1 · 14 of 21 measured | 35.1%xhigh reasoning, tau2 | 11.3%max reasoning, tau2 |
| Task success (pass^1) · tau2 v1.0.1, banking knowledge, alltools retrieval% of tasks, higher is better 1 · 16 of 21 measured | 55.2%xhigh reasoning, tau2 | 25.0%max reasoning, tau2 |
Show all 25 results (16 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.8-Max (0902) | Inkling |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 8 results | ||
| Confirmed task success · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 20 · 48 of 48 measured | 0.05arena agent | -0.21arena agent |
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 17 · 121 of 385 measured | 1,468 | 1,379 |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 20 · 74 of 338 measured | 1,513 | 1,473 |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 25 · 87 of 387 measured | 1,474 | 1,426 |
| Praise over complaint · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 20 · 47 of 48 measured | 0.03arena agent | -0.23arena agent |
| Steerability · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 18 · 47 of 48 measured | 0.03arena agent | -0.12arena agent |
| Tool grounding · AgentIPS effect estimate, higher is better 43 · 27 of 48 measured | -0.01arena agent | 0.00arena agent |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 18 · 109 of 386 measured | 1,472 | 1,398 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 8 results | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 5 · 55 of 130 measured | 88.8% | 55.1%xhigh reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 12 · 52 of 112 measured | 38.9% | 1.0%xhigh reasoning |
| τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 37 of 121 measured | 47.8% | 29.1%xhigh reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 10 · 55 of 131 measured | 76.2 | 52.1xhigh reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 35 · 66 of 233 measured | 80.3% | 77.3%xhigh reasoning |
| Output speedtokens per second, higher is better 71 · 18 of 74 measured | 37.0 | 153xhigh reasoning |
| SciCode% of problems, higher is better 36 · 58 of 113 measured | 52.1% | 47.0%xhigh reasoning |
| Time to first answer tokenseconds, lower is better 74 · 52 of 74 measured | 55.8 | 15.4xhigh reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.8-Max (0902) better than Inkling?
Pick Qwen3.8-Max (0902) if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 45.4 against 25.0). Pick Inkling if cost matters more: it costs 43% less per token. Inkling is also faster.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Inkling is cheaper: $1.72 against $3.00 per million tokens, 43% less.
Which is faster, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Inkling writes about 153 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 Inkling?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 7 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 60 for Inkling.
Which is better for professional work, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 18 of 51 models on sale for real tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects, against 45 for Inkling.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 17 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 68 for Inkling.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902) ranks 16 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 64 for Inkling.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) or Inkling?
Qwen3.8-Max (0902): 1,000,000 tokens, against 524,288 for Inkling.
Run Qwen3.8-Max (0902) and Inkling on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.