Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Qwen3.8 Max (0902) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 10.6 points higher (56.0 vs 45.4) but costs 1.5× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $4935; both flagship class). Pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.8 Max (0902).
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 45.4 | −18.9% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 18.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $4,934.79 | −32.0% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 32.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 385.69s | 62.92s | −83.7% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 83.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 18.9% less intelligence, 32.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 83.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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