GPT-5.4 Pro vs Qwen3.8 Max vs Claude Fable 5
Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 65 and 60 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
OpenAIGPT-5.4 Pro
60/100- ECI159.1
- Price$30.00 / $180.00
- Context1.05M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
AnthropicClaude Fable 5
65/100- ECI162.2
- Price$10.00 / $50.00
- Context1M
Qwen3.8 Max is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Fable 5 (65) and GPT-5.4 Pro (60). It leads on price and inputs & features. Claude Fable 5 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityClaude Fable 5Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Fable 5 162.2 · GPT-5.4 Pro 159.1 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6
- Lowest priceQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Claude Fable 5 $20.00 · GPT-5.4 Pro $67.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5.4 ProGPT-5.4 Pro 1,050,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Claude Fable 5 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxGPT-5.4 Pro: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Claude Fable 5: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | GPT-5.4 Pro | Qwen3.8 Max | Claude Fable 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 90 | 86 | 94 |
| Price | 25% | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 60 | 90 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 60/100 | 69/100 | 65/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-5.4 ProOpenAI | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Claude Fable 5Anthropic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 159.1 | 156.6 | 162.2 (best) |
| ECI rank | #11 of 148 | #20 of 148 | #7 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.6% (best) | 92.7% | 85.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 82.5% | 74.7% | 87.0% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 99.4% | 100% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 46.3% | 45.8% | 70.7% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $30.00 | $2.00 (best) | $10.00 |
| Output | $180.00 | $6.00 (best) | $50.00 |
| Cached input | — | $0.25 (best) | $1.00 |
| Blended (3:1) | $67.50 | $3.00 (best) | $20.00 |
| Long-context rate | Over 272K: $60.00 / $270.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official Alibaba API | Official Anthropic API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,050,000 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesmedium · high · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gpt-5.4-pro | qwen3.8-max | claude-fable-5 |
| API providers | 16 | 25 | 38 (best) |
| Released | Mar 5, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 | Jun 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2025 | — | Jan 31, 2026 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GPT-5.4 Pro$660.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
- Claude Fable 5$200.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-5.4 Pro, Qwen3.8 Max or Claude Fable 5?
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Fable 5 (65) and GPT-5.4 Pro (60). It leads on price and inputs & features. Claude Fable 5 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Pro, Qwen3.8 Max or Claude Fable 5?
Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Claude Fable 5 costs $10.00 input / $50.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price); GPT-5.4 Pro costs $30.00 input / $180.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 $20.00 for Claude Fable 5 (6.7× as much) and $67.50 for GPT-5.4 Pro (23× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Claude Fable 5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Fable 5 162.2 (#7 of 148), GPT-5.4 Pro 159.1 (#11 of 148) and Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (159.6–166.1 vs 156.5–161.9), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.4 Pro 94.6%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, Claude Fable 5 85.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Claude Fable 5 87.0%, GPT-5.4 Pro 82.5%, Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%; SimpleQA Verified — Claude Fable 5 70.7%, GPT-5.4 Pro 46.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 Pro, Qwen3.8 Max and Claude Fable 5 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Fable 5 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Pro has the largest context window at 1,050,000 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max and 1,000,000 for Claude Fable 5. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 Pro up to 128,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072, Claude Fable 5 up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-5.4 Pro accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Claude Fable 5 accepts text, images and PDFs. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. GPT-5.4 Pro, Qwen3.8 Max and Claude Fable 5 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max is the newest, released Aug 3, 2026. Claude Fable 5 came out Jun 9, 2026; GPT-5.4 Pro came out Mar 5, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 Pro Aug 31, 2025, Claude Fable 5 Jan 31, 2026.
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.
