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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Grok 4.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max

Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 64 on our weighted score.

  1. xAI

    Grok 4.5

    Released Jul 8, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI154.0
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context500K
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.5
  2. Our pick

    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

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Max is our pick

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.5 (64). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 MaxCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · Grok 4.5 154.0
  • Lowest priceSame priceGrok 4.5 $3.00 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Grok 4.5 500,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxGrok 4.5: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok 4.5Qwen3.8 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8386
Price25%2727
Inputs & features15%7090
Context window10%4860
Overall100%64/10069/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Grok 4.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok 4.5xAIQwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.0156.6 (best)
ECI rank#36 of 148#20 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions93.4% (best)92.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics57.2%74.7% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics97.8%99.4% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions48.3% (best)45.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$2.00
Output$6.00$6.00
Cached input$0.30$0.25 (best)
Blended (3:1)$3.00$3.00
Long-context rateOver 200K: $4.00 / $12.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial xAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window500,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output500,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYeslow · medium · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgrok-4.5qwen3.8-max
API providers2425 (best)
ReleasedJul 8, 2026Aug 3, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Grok 4.5$32.00
  • Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok 4.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.5 (64). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Grok 4.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?

Grok 4.5 and Qwen3.8 Max cost the same: $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and Grok 4.5 154.0 (#36 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.5–158.8 vs 152.3–156.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.5 93.4%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Grok 4.5 57.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Grok 4.5 97.8%; SimpleQA Verified — Grok 4.5 48.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.5 and 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?

Qwen3.8 Max has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 500,000 for Grok 4.5. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.5 up to 500,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok 4.5 accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Grok 4.5 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. Grok 4.5 came out Jul 8, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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