GPT-5 Chat vs Jamba Large vs Qwen3.8 Max Preview
Qwen3.8 Max Preview comes out ahead, 47 to 34 and 30 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
OpenAIGPT-5 Chat
34/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context400K
AI21 LabsJamba Large
30/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context256K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max Preview
47/100- 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 47/100 against GPT-5 Chat (34) and Jamba Large (30). It leads on price, inputs & features 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 · GPT-5 Chat $3.44 · Jamba Large $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · GPT-5 Chat 400,000 · Jamba Large 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 Max PreviewGPT-5 Chat: Text, Images · Jamba Large: Text · Qwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingJamba LargePublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GPT-5 Chat | Jamba Large | Qwen3.8 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 24 | 24 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 44 | 36 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 34/100 | 30/100 | 47/100 |
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 | GPT-5 ChatOpenAI | Jamba LargeAI21 Labs | Qwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.25 (best) | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output | $10.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.44 | $3.50 | $3.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Official AI21 Labs API | Median of 6 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 400,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 4,096 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | jamba-large | — |
| API providers | 2 | 1 | 6 (best) |
| Released | Aug 7, 2025 | Jul 1, 2025 | Jul 19, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 30, 2024 | Aug 22, 2024 | — |
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 Chat$32.50
- Jamba Large$36.00
- Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-5 Chat, Jamba Large or Qwen3.8 Max Preview?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against GPT-5 Chat (34) and Jamba Large (30). It leads on price, inputs & features 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, GPT-5 Chat, Jamba Large 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). GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); Jamba Large costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official AI21 Labs 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 $3.44 for GPT-5 Chat (1.1× as much) and $3.50 for Jamba Large (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GPT-5 Chat has not been scored yet, Jamba Large 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 GPT-5 Chat, Jamba Large and Qwen3.8 Max Preview yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-5 Chat does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5 Chat and 256,000 for Jamba Large. Maximum output per response: GPT-5 Chat up to 128,000, Jamba Large up to 4,096, Qwen3.8 Max Preview up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-5 Chat accepts text and images; Jamba Large accepts text; 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?
Jamba Large publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Chat and Qwen3.8 Max Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the newest, released Jul 19, 2026. GPT-5 Chat came out Aug 7, 2025; Jamba Large came out Jul 1, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5 Chat Sep 30, 2024, Jamba Large Aug 22, 2024.
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.
