GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) 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 26.9 points higher (45.4 vs 18.5) but costs 258× as much to run the benchmark ($4935 vs $19.2; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when you need intelligence above 18.5, and GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when 18.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 18.5 | 45.4 | +145.4% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 2.5× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $19.16 | $4,934.79 | +25655.7% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 258× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.09s | 64.07s | +1158.7% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 1158.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.10 / $0.50 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning): 145.4% more intelligence, 25655.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1158.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- 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-6 Luna (Non-reasoning)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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