Hy3 vs LongCat-2.5-Preview vs Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen3.8 Flash comes out ahead, 76 to 58 and 52 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
TencentHy3
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.132 / $0.53
- Context256K
Meituan (LongCat)LongCat-2.5-Preview
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.75 / $2.95
- Context1M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Flash
76/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.47
- Context1M
Qwen3.8 Flash is our pick
Qwen3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Hy3 (58) and LongCat-2.5-Preview (52). It leads on inputs & features. 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 FlashQwen3.8 Flash $0.23 · Hy3 $0.232 · LongCat-2.5-Preview $1.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLongCat-2.5-Preview and Qwen3.8 FlashLongCat-2.5-Preview 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Flash 1,000,000 · Hy3 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 FlashHy3: Text · LongCat-2.5-Preview: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Flash: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingHy3Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Hy3 | LongCat-2.5-Preview | Qwen3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 80 | 44 | 80 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 60 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 52/100 | 76/100 |
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 | Hy3Tencent | LongCat-2.5-PreviewMeituan (LongCat) | Qwen3.8 FlashAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.132 (best) | $0.75 | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.53 | $2.95 | $0.47 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.016 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.232 | $1.30 | $0.23 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 15 providers | Median of 1 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yeshigh | Yes | Yeslow · medium · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | hy3 | — | qwen3.8-flash |
| API providers | 18 | 2 | 23 (best) |
| Released | Jul 6, 2026 | Sep 25, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Hy3$2.38
- LongCat-2.5-Preview$13.40
- Qwen3.8 Flash$2.44
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hy3, LongCat-2.5-Preview or Qwen3.8 Flash?
Qwen3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Hy3 (58) and LongCat-2.5-Preview (52). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Hy3, LongCat-2.5-Preview or Qwen3.8 Flash?
Qwen3.8 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.47 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Hy3 costs $0.132 input / $0.53 output per million tokens (median across 15 API providers; free on Tencent TokenHub); LongCat-2.5-Preview costs $0.75 input / $2.95 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.23 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Flash versus $0.232 for Hy3 (1× as much) and $1.30 for LongCat-2.5-Preview (5.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hy3 has not been scored yet, LongCat-2.5-Preview has not been scored yet and Qwen3.8 Flash has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hy3, LongCat-2.5-Preview and Qwen3.8 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
LongCat-2.5-Preview and Qwen3.8 Flash have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 256,000 for Hy3. Maximum output per response: Hy3 up to 128,000, LongCat-2.5-Preview up to 131,072, Qwen3.8 Flash up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hy3 accepts text; LongCat-2.5-Preview accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Flash accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.8 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hy3 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; LongCat-2.5-Preview and Qwen3.8 Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
LongCat-2.5-Preview is the newest, released Sep 25, 2026. Qwen3.8 Flash came out Aug 26, 2026; Hy3 came out Jul 6, 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.
