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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5.5

Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max

    Released Aug 3, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-5.5

    Released Apr 23, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI159.2
    • Price$5.00 / $30.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.5

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Max is our pick

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT-5.5 (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.5 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.5Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 159.2 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max $3.00 · GPT-5.5 $11.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.5GPT-5.5 1,050,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · GPT-5.5: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 MaxGPT-5.5
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8690
Price25%270
Inputs & features15%9080
Context window10%6061
Overall100%69/10063/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-5.5 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5.5OpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)156.6159.2 (best)
ECI rank#20 of 148#10 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.7%94.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics74.7%85.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics99.4%100% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—80.6%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions45.8%63.0% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00 (best)$5.00
Output$6.00 (best)$30.00
Cached input$0.25 (best)$0.50
Blended (3:1)$3.00 (best)$11.25
Long-context rateSame rateOver 272K: $10.00 / $45.00
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,050,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · xhighYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.8-maxgpt-5.5
API providers2542 (best)
ReleasedAug 3, 2026Apr 23, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Dec 1, 2025
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$32.00
  • GPT-5.5$110.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max or GPT-5.5?

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT-5.5 (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.5 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max or GPT-5.5?

Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.5 costs $5.00 input / $30.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 $11.25 for GPT-5.5 (3.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 159.2 (#10 of 148) and Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (156.9–162.4 vs 154.5–158.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.5 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.5 85.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.5 100%, Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-5.5 63.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.5 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?

GPT-5.5 has the largest context window at 1,050,000 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072, GPT-5.5 up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; GPT-5.5 accepts text, images and PDFs. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3.8 Max and GPT-5.5 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max is the newest, released Aug 3, 2026. GPT-5.5 came out Apr 23, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.5 Dec 1, 2025.

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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