Claude Opus 4.8 vs Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5.5
Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 63 and 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
AnthropicClaude Opus 4.8
63/100- ECI158.3
- Price$5.00 / $25.00
- Context1M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
OpenAIGPT-5.5
63/100- ECI159.2
- Price$5.00 / $30.00
- Context1.05M
Qwen3.8 Max is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT-5.5 (63) and Claude Opus 4.8 (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGPT-5.5Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 159.2 · Claude Opus 4.8 158.3 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6
- Lowest priceQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Claude Opus 4.8 $10.00 · GPT-5.5 $11.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5.5GPT-5.5 1,050,000 · Claude Opus 4.8 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxClaude Opus 4.8: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · GPT-5.5: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Opus 4.8 | Qwen3.8 Max | GPT-5.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 89 | 86 | 90 |
| Price | 25% | 2 | 27 | 0 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 90 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 69/100 | 63/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | GPT-5.5OpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 158.3 | 156.6 | 159.2 (best) |
| ECI rank | #12 of 148 | #20 of 148 | #10 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 91.0% | 92.7% | 94.0% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 80.0% | 74.7% | 85.3% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 98.3% | 99.4% | 100% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | — | 80.6% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 53.0% | 45.8% | 63.0% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $5.00 | $2.00 (best) | $5.00 |
| Output | $25.00 | $6.00 (best) | $30.00 |
| Cached input | $0.50 | $0.25 (best) | $0.50 |
| Blended (3:1) | $10.00 | $3.00 (best) | $11.25 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 272K: $10.00 / $45.00 |
| Price source | Official Anthropic API | Official Alibaba API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | claude-opus-4-8 | qwen3.8-max | gpt-5.5 |
| API providers | 45 (best) | 25 | 42 |
| Released | May 28, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 | Apr 23, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2026 | — | Dec 1, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Claude Opus 4.8$100.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
- GPT-5.5$110.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Opus 4.8, Qwen3.8 Max or GPT-5.5?
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT-5.5 (63) and Claude Opus 4.8 (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.8, Qwen3.8 Max or GPT-5.5?
Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5.00 input / $25.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price); GPT-5.5 costs $5.00 input / $30.00 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 $10.00 for Claude Opus 4.8 (3.3× as much) and $11.25 for GPT-5.5 (3.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
GPT-5.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 159.2 (#10 of 148), Claude Opus 4.8 158.3 (#12 of 148) and Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (156.9–162.4 vs 156.1–160.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.5 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, Claude Opus 4.8 91.0%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.5 85.3%, Claude Opus 4.8 80.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.5 100%, Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Claude Opus 4.8 98.3%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-5.5 63.0%, Claude Opus 4.8 53.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.5 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-5.5 has the largest context window at 1,050,000 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Claude Opus 4.8 and 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max. Maximum output per response: Claude Opus 4.8 up to 128,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072, GPT-5.5 up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Opus 4.8 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; GPT-5.5 accepts text, images and PDFs. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Opus 4.8, Qwen3.8 Max and GPT-5.5 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max is the newest, released Aug 3, 2026. Claude Opus 4.8 came out May 28, 2026; GPT-5.5 came out Apr 23, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Opus 4.8 Jan 2026, GPT-5.5 Dec 1, 2025.
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.
