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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.8 Max 69, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Google

    Gemini 3.5 Flash

    Released May 19, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI154.5
    • Price$1.50 / $9.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.5 Flash

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max

    Released Aug 3, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max

  3. Add a model

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Max for raw capability and Gemini 3.5 Flash for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 MaxCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Gemini 3.5 Flash $3.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 FlashQwen3.8 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8486
Price25%2527
Inputs & features15%10090
Context window10%6160
Overall100%69/10069/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 FlashGoogleQwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.5156.6 (best)
ECI rank#33 of 148#20 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.8% (best)92.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics62.8%74.7% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics95.6%99.4% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues79.3%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.2% (best)45.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.50 (best)$2.00
Output$9.00$6.00 (best)
Cached input$0.15 (best)$0.25
Blended (3:1)$3.38$3.00 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYeslow · medium · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.5-flashqwen3.8-max
API providers32 (best)25
ReleasedMay 19, 2026Aug 3, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 3.5 Flash$33.00
  • Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Max for raw capability and Gemini 3.5 Flash for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 input / $9.00 output per million tokens (official Google 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 versus $3.38 for Gemini 3.5 Flash (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 (#33 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.5–158.8 vs 152.5–156.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.5 Flash 92.8%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Gemini 3.5 Flash 62.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Gemini 3.5 Flash 95.6%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.5 Flash 66.2%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Gemini 3.5 Flash and Qwen3.8 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max is the newest, released Aug 3, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash came out May 19, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Jan 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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