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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 vs Muse Spark 1.3 vs Grok 4.6

Muse Spark 1.3 comes out ahead, 72 to 67 and 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max 0902

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI156.2
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max 0902
  2. Our pick

    Meta

    Muse Spark 1.3

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI157.4
    • Price$1.25 / $4.25
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Muse Spark 1.3

  3. xAI

    Grok 4.6

    Released Aug 12, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI156.9
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context500K
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.6
01 — Verdict

Muse Spark 1.3 is our pick

Muse Spark 1.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 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%.

  • CapabilityMuse Spark 1.3Capabilities Index (ECI): Muse Spark 1.3 157.4 · Grok 4.6 156.9 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 156.2
  • Lowest priceMuse Spark 1.3Muse Spark 1.3 $2.00 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMuse Spark 1.3Muse Spark 1.3 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMuse Spark 1.3Qwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Muse Spark 1.3: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.6: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 Max 0902Muse Spark 1.3Grok 4.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%848685
Price25%263426
Inputs & features15%8010070
Context window10%606148
Overall100%67/10072/10064/100
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 Muse Spark 1.3 vs Grok 4.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen)Muse Spark 1.3MetaGrok 4.6xAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)156.2157.4 (best)156.9
ECI rank#32 of 165#24 of 165 (best)#27 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.3%—94.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics65.6%74.4% (best)66.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics100% (best)99.2%99.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions47.3%—49.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$1.25 (best)$2.00
Output$6.00$4.25 (best)$6.00
Cached input—$0.15 (best)$0.50
Blended (3:1)$3.00$2.00 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateOver 200K: $4.00 / $12.00
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Meta APIOfficial xAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)500,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens131,072 tokens500,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoYesYesNo
ReasoningYesYesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · maxYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model ID—muse-spark-1.3grok-4.6
API providers91733 (best)
ReleasedSep 2, 2026Sep 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
  • Muse Spark 1.3$21.00
  • Grok 4.6$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Muse Spark 1.3 or Grok 4.6?

Muse Spark 1.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 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, Muse Spark 1.3 or Grok 4.6?

Muse Spark 1.3 is cheaper at $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta 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 $2.00 per million tokens for Muse Spark 1.3 versus $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (1.5× as much) and $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Muse Spark 1.3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Muse Spark 1.3 157.4 (#24 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 (155.4–159.9 vs 155.1–159.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Muse Spark 1.3 74.4%, Grok 4.6 66.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 65.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 0902 100%, Muse Spark 1.3 99.2%, Grok 4.6 99.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Muse Spark 1.3 and Grok 4.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Muse Spark 1.3 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?

Muse Spark 1.3 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, Muse Spark 1.3 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; Muse Spark 1.3 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images. Muse Spark 1.3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3.8 Max 0902, Muse Spark 1.3 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. Muse Spark 1.3 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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