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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 vs Grok 4.6

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67, Grok 4.6 65). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max 0902

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI155.2
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max 0902

  2. xAI

    Grok 4.6

    Released Aug 12, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context500K
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.6

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67/100, Grok 4.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok 4.6 for raw capability, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 on price and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2
  • Lowest priceSame priceQwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 Max 0902Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 Max 0902Qwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Grok 4.6: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 Max 0902Grok 4.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8586
Price25%2727
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%6048
Overall100%67/10065/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 vs Grok 4.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen)Grok 4.6xAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)155.2156.6 (best)
ECI rank#28 of 148#19 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.3%94.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics65.6%66.0% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics100% (best)99.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions47.3%49.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$2.00
Output$6.00$6.00
Cached input—$0.50
Blended (3:1)$3.00$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $4.00 / $12.00
Price sourceMedian of 6 providersOfficial xAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)500,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens500,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model ID—grok-4.6
API providers629 (best)
ReleasedSep 2, 2026Aug 12, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Feb 1, 2026
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 Max 0902$32.00
  • Grok 4.6$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 or Grok 4.6?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67/100, Grok 4.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok 4.6 for raw capability, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 on price and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 or Grok 4.6?

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 and Grok 4.6 cost the same: $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148) and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2 (#28 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 153.2–157.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.6 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 92.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — 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%; SimpleQA Verified — 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 and Grok 4.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 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?

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 up to 131,072, 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; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images. Qwen3.8 Max 0902 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3.8 Max 0902 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. 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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