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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B

Qwen3.8 27B comes out ahead, 67 to 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Max Preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    54/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.30 / $7.80
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Max Preview
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 27B

    Released Aug 14, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI149.4
    • Price$0.40 / $2.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 27B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 27B is our pick

Qwen3.8 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 27BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 27BQwen3.8 27B $0.925 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · Qwen3.8 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 27BQwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · Qwen3.8 27B: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.8 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.8 27B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7777
Price25%2851
Inputs & features15%3580
Context window10%3737
Overall100%54/10067/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.2149.4 (best)
ECI rank#54 of 148#53 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions87.4%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics91.1%—
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues76.7%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions52.0%—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.30$0.40 (best)
Output$7.80$2.50 (best)
Cached input$0.13—
Blended (3:1)$2.92$0.925 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 39 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen3.6-max-preview—
API providers1041 (best)
ReleasedApr 20, 2026Aug 14, 2026
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025—
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.

  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
  • Qwen3.8 27B$9.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper at $0.40 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 39 API providers). Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.925 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 27B versus $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (3.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 27B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 (#53 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–151.6 vs 147.6–152.0), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 27B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 27B 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?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Qwen3.8 27B share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 27B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; Qwen3.8 27B accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.8 27B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.8 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Max Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 27B is the newest, released Aug 14, 2026. Qwen3.6 Max Preview came out Apr 20, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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