GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 Max (0902) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 10.8 points higher (45.4 vs 34.6) but costs 28× as much to run the benchmark ($4935 vs $179; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when you need intelligence above 34.6, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) when 34.6 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.6 | 45.4 | +31.2% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 31.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $179.33 | $4,934.79 | +2651.8% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 28× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 39.18s | 63.77s | +62.8% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 62.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh): 31.2% more intelligence, 2651.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 62.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (Medium) scores 41.30 for $175.
- 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-5.6 Luna (Xhigh)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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