GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 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-Flash-Next scores 14.8 points higher (39.8 vs 25.0) but costs 8.2× as much to run the benchmark ($363 vs $44.3; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8-Flash-Next when you need intelligence above 25.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) when 25.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 25.0 | 39.8 | +59.2% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 59.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $44.32 | $362.72 | +718.4% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 8.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.50s | 50.19s | +672.2% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 672.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.47 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium): 59.2% more intelligence, 718.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 672.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
- Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium)Qwen3.8-Flash-NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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