GPT-5.5 (High) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (High) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 Max (0902) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 8.4 points higher (45.4 vs 37.0) but costs 1.4× as much to run the benchmark ($4935 vs $3411; both flagship class). Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.5 (High).
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (High) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 37.0 | 45.4 | +22.7% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 22.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,410.76 | $4,934.79 | +44.7% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 44.7% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 19.79s | 63.23s | +219.5% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 219.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-5.5 (High): 22.7% more intelligence, 44.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 219.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- 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.
GPT-5.5 (High)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-high/qwen3-8-max · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-high/qwen3-8-max?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill