Qwen3.8 Max vs Claude Fable 5.1 vs Grok 4.6
Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 66 and 65 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
AnthropicClaude Fable 5.1
66/100- ECI164.8
- Price$10.00 / $50.00
- Context1M
xAIGrok 4.6
65/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
Qwen3.8 Max is our pick
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Fable 5.1 (66) and Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on inputs & features. Claude Fable 5.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityClaude Fable 5.1Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Fable 5.1 164.8 · Grok 4.6 156.6 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6
- Lowest priceQwen3.8 Max and Grok 4.6Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 · Claude Fable 5.1 $20.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.8 Max and Claude Fable 5.1Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Claude Fable 5.1 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Claude Fable 5.1: Text, Images, PDFs · Grok 4.6: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.8 Max | Claude Fable 5.1 | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 86 | 97 | 86 |
| Price | 25% | 27 | 0 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 90 | 80 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 60 | 48 |
| Overall | 100% | 69/100 | 66/100 | 65/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | Grok 4.6xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.6 | 164.8 (best) | 156.6 |
| ECI rank | #20 of 148 | #4 of 148 (best) | #19 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 92.7% | — | 94.0% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 74.7% | 90.2% (best) | 66.0% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 99.4% | 100% (best) | 99.2% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 45.8% | 70.8% (best) | 49.3% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 (best) | $10.00 | $2.00 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 (best) | $50.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.25 (best) | $0.25 (best) | $0.50 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 (best) | $20.00 | $3.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Anthropic API | Official xAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 500,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 500,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3.8-max | claude-fable-5-1 | grok-4.6 |
| API providers | 25 | 29 (best) | 29 (best) |
| Released | Aug 3, 2026 | Sep 1, 2026 | Aug 12, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jun 2026 | 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$32.00
- Claude Fable 5.1$200.00
- Grok 4.6$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max, Claude Fable 5.1 or Grok 4.6?
Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Fable 5.1 (66) and Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on inputs & features. Claude Fable 5.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max, Claude Fable 5.1 or Grok 4.6?
Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price); Claude Fable 5.1 costs $10.00 input / $50.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Max versus $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (1× as much) and $20.00 for Claude Fable 5.1 (6.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Claude Fable 5.1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Fable 5.1 164.8 (#4 of 148), Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148) and Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (161.8–169.1 vs 154.7–158.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Claude Fable 5.1 90.2%, Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Grok 4.6 66.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Fable 5.1 100%, Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Grok 4.6 99.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Claude Fable 5.1 70.8%, Grok 4.6 49.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max, Claude Fable 5.1 and Grok 4.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Fable 5.1 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?
Qwen3.8 Max and Claude Fable 5.1 have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072, Claude Fable 5.1 up to 128,000, Grok 4.6 up to 500,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Claude Fable 5.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3.8 Max, Claude Fable 5.1 and Grok 4.6 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Claude Fable 5.1 is the newest, released Sep 1, 2026. Grok 4.6 came out Aug 12, 2026; Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Fable 5.1 Jun 2026, 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.
