GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Low)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 27B (Low) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 27B (Low) scores 5.2 points higher (26.2 vs 21.0) but costs 43× as much to run the benchmark ($1165 vs $27.0; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 27B (Low) when you need intelligence above 21.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) when 21.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) | Qwen3.8 27B (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 21.0 | 26.2 | +24.8% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 24.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $27.02 | $1,164.93 | +4211.4% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 43× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.68s | 55.03s | +868.8% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 868.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 27B (Low) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Low): 24.8% more intelligence, 4211.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 868.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Low)Qwen3.8 27B (Low)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-5-6-luna-low/qwen3-8-27b-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-low/qwen3-8-27b-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill