GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max scores 1.0 points higher (40.2 vs 39.2) but costs 3.2× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $997; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 39.2, and GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) when 39.2 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.2 | 40.2 | +2.6% Qwen3.8 Max is 2.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $997.39 | $3,172.37 | +218.1% Qwen3.8 Max is 3.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 10.52s | 62.87s | +497.6% Qwen3.8 Max is 497.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium): 2.6% more intelligence, 218.1% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 497.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium)Qwen3.8 MaxToday'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-5-6-sol-medium/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-sol-medium/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill