GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max scores 12.7 points higher (40.2 vs 27.5) but costs 9.1× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $350; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 27.5, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) when 27.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.5 | 40.2 | +46.2% Qwen3.8 Max is 46.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $350.36 | $3,172.37 | +805.5% Qwen3.8 Max is 9.1× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.92s | 61.90s | +945.6% Qwen3.8 Max is 945.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Low): 46.2% more intelligence, 805.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 945.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- 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 Terra (Low)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-terra-low/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-low/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill