Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 15.8 points higher (56.0 vs 40.2) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $3172; both flagship class). Pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.8 Max.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 40.2 | −28.2% Qwen3.8 Max is 28.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $3,172.37 | −56.3% Qwen3.8 Max is 56.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 409.04s | 64.42s | −84.3% Qwen3.8 Max is 84.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 28.2% less intelligence, 56.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 84.3% 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 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Qwen3.8 MaxToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill