GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Medium)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) 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
Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) scores 6.9 points higher (27.6 vs 20.7) but costs 3.5× as much to run the benchmark ($1165 vs $331; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) when you need intelligence above 20.7, and GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) when 20.7 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) | Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 20.7 | 27.6 | +33.3% Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) is 33.3% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $331.24 | $1,165.00 | +251.7% Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) is 3.5× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 105.67s | 56.45s | −46.6% Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) is 46.6% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.25 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) vs GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh): 33.3% more intelligence, 251.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 46.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh)Qwen3.8 27B (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-4-nano/qwen3-8-27b-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-4-nano/qwen3-8-27b-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill