GPT-5 mini (High) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: GPT-5 mini (High) 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 23.4 points higher (40.2 vs 16.8) but costs 17× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $189; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 16.8, and GPT-5 mini (High) when 16.8 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5 mini (High) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.8 | 40.2 | +139.3% Qwen3.8 Max is 2.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $188.66 | $3,172.37 | +1581.5% Qwen3.8 Max is 17× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 58.74s | 64.64s | +10.0% Qwen3.8 Max is 10.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $2.00 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5 mini (High): 139.3% more intelligence, 1581.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 10.0% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5 mini (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
GPT-5 mini (High)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-mini/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill