GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 Max (0902) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 3.3 points higher (45.4 vs 42.1) but costs 2.0× as much to run the benchmark ($4935 vs $2501; both flagship class). Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Terra (Max).
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.1 | 45.4 | +7.8% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 7.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,500.72 | $4,934.79 | +97.3% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 97.3% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 110.99s | 64.07s | −42.3% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 42.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Max): 7.8% more intelligence, 97.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 42.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- 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 Terra (Max)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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