Compare / Alibaba vs xAI

AI labs compared · October 2026

Alibaba vs xAI: which AI lab is ahead?

Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 31 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

27 models on sale with our resultsAlibaba Best: Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · newest: Qwen3.8-27B
4 models on sale with our resultsxAI Best: Grok 4.7 · newest: Grok 4.7
Alibaba wins 3xAI wins 5

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 8 both are measured on.

Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.

Alibaba or xAI? The short answer

xAI is ahead: its best models beat Alibaba's in 5 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on; Alibaba leads in 3.

  • Pick Alibaba for agents and tool use, writing and sticking to the facts.
  • Pick xAI for product listings, decks from an analysis, marketing planning, professional work and reasoning and knowledge.
  • On our overall leaderboard, Qwen3.8-Max (0902) is #12 (48 of 100) and Grok 4.7 is #14 (43).
  • Prices start at $0.11 per million tokens for Alibaba (Qwen3.5-9B) and $1.56 for xAI (Grok 4.3).

Head to head

48Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Best Spring Prompt overall score
43Grok 4.7
45.4Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Best Intelligence Index
46.4Grok 4.7
$3.00Qwen3.8-Max (0902)
Flagship price, per million tokens
$3.00Grok 4.7
$0.11Qwen3.5-9B
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$1.56Grok 4.3
27
Models on sale with our results
4

Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.

Which lab is better for what

For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live 17 of 20Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 4 of 20Grok 4.7
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 11 of 19Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 9 of 19Grok 4.7
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 14 of 19Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 11 of 19Grok 4.7
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 7 of 164Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 10 of 164Grok 4.6
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 18 of 51Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 16 of 51Grok 4.6
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 17 of 198Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 13 of 198Grok 4.6
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 16 of 188Qwen3.8-Max (0902) 40 of 188Grok 4.5
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 6 of 152Qwen3-8B 43 of 152Grok 4.5

Every model, by intelligence and price

Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.

AlibabaxAI

01020304050 $0.1$1$10 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index Qwen3.8-Max (0902)Qwen3.8-27BQwen3.7-MaxGrok 4.7Grok 4.6Grok 4.5

On our overall leaderboard

The 2 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.

  1. #12Qwen3.8-Max (0902)48
  2. #14Grok 4.743

Benchmark by benchmark

The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.

MeasureAlibabaxAI
Agents and tool use
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 38.9%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 11 of 10525.8%Grok 4.7 · 19 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 88.8%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 5 of 11588.4%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 48.0%Qwen3.8-27B · 5 of 11350.7%Grok 4.6 · 1 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $5,115Qwen3.6-Plus · 24 of 56$9,047Grok 4.6 · 6 of 56
Decks from an analysis
DeckBench · Deck ratingrating, higher is better 1,100Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 11 of 191,229Grok 4.7 · 9 of 19
Marketing planning
ROASBench · Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 25.4Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 14 of 1936.6Grok 4.7 · 11 of 19
Product listings
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready% of products, higher is better 28.6%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 13 of 2057.1%Grok 4.7 · 4 of 20
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready · sales brief% of products, higher is better 0.0%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 18 of 2033.9%Grok 4.7 · 5 of 20
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 24.9%Qwen3.5-397B-A17B · 36 of 3765.3%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 37
GDP.pdf · Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 23.2%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 13 of 3117.2%Grok 4.6 · 19 of 31
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 45.4Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 13 of 19846.4Grok 4.7 · 11 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 43.1%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 23 of 19744.1%Grok 4.6 · 21 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 92.8%Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 15 of 18794.9%Grok 4.6 · 3 of 187
Sticking to the facts
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,472Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 18 of 1131,465Grok 4.5 · 28 of 113
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 55.8%Qwen3.7-Max · 18 of 7349.3%Grok 4.6 · 26 of 73
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,482Qwen3.8-Max (0902) · 17 of 1661,466Grok 4.5 · 33 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 58.2Qwen3.6-Plus · 38 of 13863.3Grok 4.6 · 29 of 138

Their models, one against one

Quick answers

Is Alibaba or xAI better?

xAI is ahead: its best models beat Alibaba's in 5 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on; Alibaba leads in 3.

What is Alibaba's best model?

Qwen3.8-Max (0902): #12 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 45.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

What is xAI's best model?

Grok 4.7: #14 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 46.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Alibaba or xAI?

Alibaba: its best model there, Qwen3.8-Max (0902), ranks 7 of 164 models on sale, against 10 for xAI's Grok 4.6.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Alibaba or xAI?

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 13 of 198 models on sale, against 17 for Alibaba's Qwen3.8-Max (0902).

Which is better for writing, Alibaba or xAI?

Alibaba: its best model there, Qwen3.8-Max (0902), ranks 16 of 188 models on sale, against 40 for xAI's Grok 4.5.

Which is cheaper, Alibaba or xAI?

Alibaba's cheapest model with results, Qwen3.5-9B, costs $0.11 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $1.56 for Grok 4.3 from xAI.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from Alibaba, xAI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to usSee the leaderboard