Qwen3.8 Max 0902 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Grok 4.6
Gemini 3.8 Flash comes out ahead, 74 to 67 and 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max 0902
67/100- ECI156.2
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 3.8 Flash
74/100- ECI157.6
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
xAIGrok 4.6
64/100- ECI156.9
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
Gemini 3.8 Flash is our pick
Gemini 3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67) and Grok 4.6 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.8 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 · Grok 4.6 156.9 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 156.2
- Lowest priceGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash $1.50 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.8 FlashQwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Gemini 3.8 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.6: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.8 Max 0902 | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 86 | 85 |
| Price | 25% | 26 | 40 | 26 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 100 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 61 | 48 |
| Overall | 100% | 67/100 | 74/100 | 64/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen) | Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle | Grok 4.6xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.2 | 157.6 (best) | 156.9 |
| ECI rank | #32 of 165 | #23 of 165 (best) | #27 of 165 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 92.3% | 95.4% (best) | 94.0% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 65.6% | 68.4% (best) | 66.0% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 100% (best) | 98.9% | 99.2% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 47.3% | 69.7% (best) | 49.3% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 | $0.75 (best) | $2.00 |
| Output | $6.00 | $3.75 (best) | $6.00 |
| Cached input | — | $0.075 (best) | $0.50 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $1.50 (best) | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Official Google API | Official xAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 500,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 500,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | gemini-3.8-flash | grok-4.6 |
| API providers | 9 | 32 | 33 (best) |
| Released | Sep 2, 2026 | Sep 2, 2026 | Aug 12, 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.
- Qwen3.8 Max 0902$32.00
- Gemini 3.8 Flash$15.00
- Grok 4.6$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Grok 4.6?
Gemini 3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67) and Grok 4.6 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Grok 4.6?
Gemini 3.8 Flash is cheaper at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3.8 Max 0902 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers); Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash versus $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (2× as much) and $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 (#23 of 165), Grok 4.6 156.9 (#27 of 165) and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 156.2 (#32 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (155.5–160.9 vs 155.1–159.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.8 Flash 95.4%, Grok 4.6 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 92.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3.8 Flash 68.4%, Grok 4.6 66.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 65.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 0902 100%, Grok 4.6 99.2%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 98.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.8 Flash 69.7%, Grok 4.6 49.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 47.3%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Gemini 3.8 Flash and Grok 4.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.8 Flash 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?
Gemini 3.8 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 and 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 up to 131,072, Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 65,536, Grok 4.6 up to 500,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.8 Max 0902 accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images. Gemini 3.8 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Gemini 3.8 Flash and Grok 4.6 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is the newest, released Sep 2, 2026. Gemini 3.8 Flash came out Sep 2, 2026; Grok 4.6 came out Aug 12, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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