Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3.7 Max vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 65 and 58 on our weighted score.
xAIGrok 4.6
65/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.7 Max
58/100- ECI153.7
- Price$2.50 / $7.50
- Context1M
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
Qwen3.8 Max is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65) and Qwen3.7 Max (58). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · Qwen3.7 Max 153.7
- Lowest priceGrok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 MaxGrok 4.6 $3.00 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Qwen3.7 Max $3.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.7 Max and Qwen3.8 MaxQwen3.7 Max 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxGrok 4.6: Text, Images · Qwen3.7 Max: Text · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.6 | Qwen3.7 Max | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 86 | 83 | 86 |
| Price | 25% | 27 | 23 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 35 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 48 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 65/100 | 58/100 | 69/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.6xAI | Qwen3.7 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.6 (best) | 153.7 | 156.6 |
| ECI rank | #19 of 148 (best) | #37 of 148 | #20 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.0% (best) | 90.9% | 92.7% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 66.0% | 64.6% | 74.7% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 99.2% | 95.6% | 99.4% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 77.3% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 49.3% | 55.8% (best) | 45.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 (best) | $2.50 | $2.00 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 (best) | $7.50 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.50 | $0.50 | $0.25 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 (best) | $3.75 | $3.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 500,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 500,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh | Yes | Yeslow · medium · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | grok-4.6 | qwen3.7-max | qwen3.8-max |
| API providers | 29 (best) | 26 | 25 |
| Released | Aug 12, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Feb 1, 2026 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Grok 4.6$32.00
- Qwen3.7 Max$40.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.6, Qwen3.7 Max or Qwen3.8 Max?
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65) and Qwen3.7 Max (58). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6, Qwen3.7 Max or Qwen3.8 Max?
Grok 4.6 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). Qwen3.8 Max costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen3.7 Max costs $2.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Grok 4.6 versus $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max (1× as much) and $3.75 for Qwen3.7 Max (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148), Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and Qwen3.7 Max 153.7 (#37 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 154.5–158.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.6 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, Qwen3.7 Max 90.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Grok 4.6 66.0%, Qwen3.7 Max 64.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Grok 4.6 99.2%, Qwen3.7 Max 95.6%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.7 Max 55.8%, Grok 4.6 49.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 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?
Qwen3.7 Max and Qwen3.8 Max have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.6 up to 500,000, Qwen3.7 Max up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.6 accepts text and images; Qwen3.7 Max accepts text; 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 4.6, Qwen3.7 Max and Qwen3.8 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.6 is the newest, released Aug 12, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 2026; Qwen3.7 Max came out May 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Grok 4.6 Feb 1, 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.
