Aion-3.0 vs Command A Plus vs Qwen3.8 Max Preview
Qwen3.8 Max Preview comes out ahead, 46 to 35 and 26 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Aion Labs
Aion-3.0
26/100- ECI—
- Price$3.00 / $6.00
- Context131K
CohereCommand A Plus
35/100- ECI—
- Price$2.50 / $10.00
- Context128K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max Preview
46/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 46/100 against Command A Plus (35) and Aion-3.0 (26). It leads on price and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview $3.00 · Aion-3.0 $3.75 · Command A Plus $4.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · Aion-3.0 131,072 · Command A Plus 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 Max PreviewAion-3.0: Text · Command A Plus: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingCommand A PlusPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Aion-3.0 | Command A Plus | Qwen3.8 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 22 | 19 | 26 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 24 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 26/100 | 35/100 | 46/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Aion-3.0Aion Labs | Command A PlusCohere | Qwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $3.00 | $2.50 | $2.00 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 (best) | $10.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.75 | $4.38 | $3.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 4 providers | Official Cohere API | Median of 6 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 64,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | command-a-plus-05-2026 | — |
| API providers | 4 | 3 | 6 (best) |
| Released | May 5, 2026 | May 20, 2026 | Jul 19, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 1, 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Aion-3.0$42.00
- Command A Plus$45.00
- Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Aion-3.0, Command A Plus or Qwen3.8 Max Preview?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 46/100 against Command A Plus (35) and Aion-3.0 (26). It leads on price and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Aion-3.0, Command A Plus or Qwen3.8 Max Preview?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). Aion-3.0 costs $3.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers); Command A Plus costs $2.50 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Max Preview versus $3.75 for Aion-3.0 (1.3× as much) and $4.38 for Command A Plus (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Aion-3.0 has not been scored yet, Command A Plus has not been scored yet and Qwen3.8 Max Preview has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Aion-3.0, Command A Plus and Qwen3.8 Max Preview yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Aion-3.0 and 128,000 for Command A Plus. Maximum output per response: Aion-3.0 up to 32,768, Command A Plus up to 64,000, Qwen3.8 Max Preview up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Aion-3.0 accepts text; Command A Plus accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Max Preview accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.8 Max Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Command A Plus publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Aion-3.0 and Qwen3.8 Max Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the newest, released Jul 19, 2026. Command A Plus came out May 20, 2026; Aion-3.0 came out May 5, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Command A Plus Apr 1, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
