GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI or Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) 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
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 32.5 points higher (52.7 vs 20.2) but costs 2.6× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $2022; both flagship class). Pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning).
| Metric | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 52.7 | 20.2 | −61.7% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 61.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $5,324.10 | $2,022.49 | −62.0% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 62.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 360.54s | 13.84s | −96.2% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 96.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max): 61.7% less intelligence, 62.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 96.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-6 Astra (Max)Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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