Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) by Alibaba or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? 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 27B (Medium) scores 3.5 points higher (27.6 vs 24.1) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($1165 vs $502; both premium class). Pick Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Solar Mini 4.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.6 | 24.1 | −12.7% Solar Mini 4 is 12.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,165.00 | $502.02 | −56.9% Solar Mini 4 is 56.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 56.04s | 25.33s | −54.8% Solar Mini 4 is 54.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.50 / $3.00 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs Qwen3.8 27B (Medium): 12.7% less intelligence, 56.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 54.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Qwen3.8 27B (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Qwen3.8 27B (Medium)Solar Mini 4Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/qwen3-8-27b-medium/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/qwen3-8-27b-medium/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill