Qwen3.8 Max vs Ring-2.6-1T
Which is better for the money: Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba or Ring-2.6-1T by InclusionAI? 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 scores 23.6 points higher (40.2 vs 16.6) but costs 5.5× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $576; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 16.6, and Ring-2.6-1T when 16.6 is enough.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 Max | Ring-2.6-1T | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 40.2 | 16.6 | −58.7% Ring-2.6-1T is 58.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,172.37 | $575.60 | −81.9% Ring-2.6-1T is 81.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 64.42s | 24.15s | −62.5% Ring-2.6-1T is 62.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $6.00 | $0.30 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text |
Ring-2.6-1T vs Qwen3.8 Max: 58.7% less intelligence, 81.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 62.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Ring-2.6-1T is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Qwen3.8 MaxRing-2.6-1TToday'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-max-0803/ring-2-6-1t · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/qwen3-8-max-0803/ring-2-6-1t?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill