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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs Qwen3.8 Flash

Qwen3.8 Flash comes out ahead, 76 to 70 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Flash Next

    Released Aug 27, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.50
    • Context262K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Flash

    Released Aug 26, 2026

    76/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.47
    • Context1M
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Flash is our pick

Qwen3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Qwen3.8 Flash Next (70). It leads on price and context window. 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 · Qwen3.8 Flash Next $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 FlashQwen3.8 Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Flash Next 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.8 Flash Next: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.8 Flash: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.8 Flash NextPublishes downloadable weights (qwen-community-1.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 Flash NextQwen3.8 Flash
Price50%7680
Inputs & features30%8080
Context window20%3760
Overall100%70/10076/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs Qwen3.8 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 Flash NextAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 FlashAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20$0.15 (best)
Output$0.50$0.47 (best)
Cached input—$0.016
Blended (3:1)$0.275$0.23 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenqwen-community-1.0Proprietary
API model ID—qwen3.8-flash
API providers523 (best)
ReleasedAug 27, 2026Aug 26, 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.

  • Qwen3.8 Flash Next$3.00
  • Qwen3.8 Flash$2.44
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Flash Next or Qwen3.8 Flash?

Qwen3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 76/100 against Qwen3.8 Flash Next (70). It leads on price and context window. 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, Qwen3.8 Flash Next or Qwen3.8 Flash?

Qwen3.8 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.47 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3.8 Flash Next costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.23 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Flash versus $0.275 for Qwen3.8 Flash Next (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.8 Flash Next 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 Qwen3.8 Flash Next and Qwen3.8 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.8 Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.8 Flash Next. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Flash Next up to 131,072, Qwen3.8 Flash up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.8 Flash accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next publishes its weights (qwen-community-1.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.8 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is the newest, released Aug 27, 2026. Qwen3.8 Flash came out Aug 26, 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.