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AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

GPT-5.5 vs Qwen 3.8 Max

OpenAI against Qwen, compared on context, price, and attributed benchmark results.

Recorded profile verification October 2, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: Medium — see receipts below

OpenAI

GPT-5.5

Frontier

vs

Qwen

Qwen 3.8 Max

Frontier

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationGPT-5.5Qwen 3.8 Max
ProviderOpenAIQwen
TierFrontierFrontier
Context windowWinner: 1.05M1M
Max output128KWinner: 131K
Input / 1M tokens$5Winner: $2
Output / 1M tokens$30Winner: $6
WeightsClosedClosed
ParametersNot verifiedUnverified2.4T total (MoE; managed active count not verified)
Reasoning levelsnone, low, medium, high, xhighlow, medium, xhigh
Modalitiestext, imagetext, image, video
API model idgpt-5.5qwen3.8-max
ReleasedApril 23, 2026August 3, 2026
Terminal-Bench 2.1 · source date GPT-5.5: 2026-07-2783.4Not verifiedUnverified
Terminal-Bench 2.1 · source date Qwen 3.8 Max: 2026-10-01Not verifiedUnverified86.6
GPQA Diamond · source date GPT-5.5: 2026-07-2793.5Not verifiedUnverified
GPQA Diamond · source date Qwen 3.8 Max: 2026-10-01Not verifiedUnverified92.6
Humanity's Last Exam · source date GPT-5.5: 2026-04-23, Qwen 3.8 Max: 2026-08-14 (comparability not verified)52.256.2
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · source date Qwen 3.8 Max: 2026-10-01Not verifiedUnverified45

Dates beside benchmark scores refer to the linked source’s publication or capture date unless that source explicitly states when it measured the result. A shared URL alone does not establish comparable runs; unverified setups are marked. Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

Pricing tiers

GPT-5.5: Standard $5/$30 per MTok; prompts above 272K bill 2x input and 1.5x output for the full session in Standard/Batch/Flex. Cached input $0.50; short-context Batch $2.50/$15. Regional/FedRAMP processing adds 10% where eligible.

Qwen 3.8 Max: Model Studio International $2/$6 per MTok; implicit cache $0.25, explicit creation $2.50/read $0.17. China/Global $1.65/$4.951, cache $0.206, creation $2.063/read $0.137. Output 131,072 in both modes; input 991,808 non-thinking or 983,616 thinking, 1M context and 262,144 reasoning. Batch supported in China, unavailable in International/Global.

FrontierRecord checked October 1, 2026

GPT-5.5

OpenAI’s April 2026 model for reasoning, coding and professional work, with a 1.05M-token context. Retained benchmark scores identify their source and configuration.

Best for

  • Reasoning
  • Agentic coding
  • Long-context work

Watch out

An older model, still listed in the API. GPT-5.5 retires from ChatGPT, Work and Codex on October 14, 2026; that notice does not affect the OpenAI API.

FrontierRecord checked October 2, 2026

Qwen 3.8 Max

Qwen 3.8 Max is Alibaba's managed multimodal flagship, with a vendor-described 2.4T MoE scale and 1M context.

Best for

  • Hosted agentic work
  • Long-context
  • Multimodal

Watch out

The text-only open checkpoint has 262,144 native context with extension and requires thinking; its 95B active count is not verified for the managed API. Managed Max accepts visual input and supports thinking on/off, xhigh default and low/medium/xhigh controls, with preserved thinking by default. API reasoning_effort and thinking_budget cannot both be set. Regional web-search and Batch support differ. Independent AA 0902 results identify a snapshot, not every alias version.

When the cheaper one wins

Qwen 3.8 Max is cheaper on output at $6 per million tokens against $30 for GPT-5.5 — about 5.0×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. On DeepSWE 1.1, Qwen 3.8 Max is 57.5% Pass@1 at $3.73/task versus GPT-5.5 at 67% / $7.23/task. This compares standard short-context token rates, not total cost per accepted task. Include input, cache, context tiers, schedules, retries and review in your pilot.

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Evidence confidence: Medium

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 4/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: parameter count.
  • No directly aligned benchmark setup — No benchmark has matching cited sources, source dates, units, effort and recorded run details on both models.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Older of the two catalog checks was 25 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? GPT-5.5 · Qwen 3.8 Max

Common questions

GPT-5.5 vs Qwen 3.8 Max

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is GPT-5.5 or Qwen 3.8 Max cheaper for input?
Qwen 3.8 Max is cheaper at $2 per million input tokens, against $5 for GPT-5.5 — roughly 2.5× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; GPT-5.5: Standard $5/$30 per MTok; prompts above 272K bill 2x input and 1.5x output for the full session in Standard/Batch/Flex. Cached input $0.50; short-context Batch $2.50/$15. Regional/FedRAMP processing adds 10% where eligible. Qwen 3.8 Max: Model Studio International $2/$6 per MTok; implicit cache $0.25, explicit creation $2.50/read $0.17. China/Global $1.65/$4.951, cache $0.206, creation $2.063/read $0.137. Output 131,072 in both modes; input 991,808 non-thinking or 983,616 thinking, 1M context and 262,144 reasoning. Batch supported in China, unavailable in International/Global.
Is GPT-5.5 or Qwen 3.8 Max cheaper for output?
Qwen 3.8 Max is cheaper at $6 per million output tokens, against $30 for GPT-5.5 — roughly 5.0× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; GPT-5.5: Standard $5/$30 per MTok; prompts above 272K bill 2x input and 1.5x output for the full session in Standard/Batch/Flex. Cached input $0.50; short-context Batch $2.50/$15. Regional/FedRAMP processing adds 10% where eligible. Qwen 3.8 Max: Model Studio International $2/$6 per MTok; implicit cache $0.25, explicit creation $2.50/read $0.17. China/Global $1.65/$4.951, cache $0.206, creation $2.063/read $0.137. Output 131,072 in both modes; input 991,808 non-thinking or 983,616 thinking, 1M context and 262,144 reasoning. Batch supported in China, unavailable in International/Global.
Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.5 or Qwen 3.8 Max?
GPT-5.5 accepts 1.05M tokens against 1M for Qwen 3.8 Max. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do GPT-5.5 and Qwen 3.8 Max support the same reasoning levels?
GPT-5.5 exposes none, low, medium, high, xhigh, while Qwen 3.8 Max exposes low, medium, xhigh.
Should I use GPT-5.5 or Qwen 3.8 Max?
Both are classified in our frontier tier; this editorial grouping does not imply equal capability. GPT-5.5 is a candidate for reasoning; Qwen 3.8 Max is a candidate for hosted agentic work. Compare accuracy, tool reliability, latency and cost on representative tasks.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: Qwen 3.8 Max costs $2 per 1M tokens versus $5 for GPT-5.5 — a 2.5x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: GPT-5.5 takes 1.05M against 1M for Qwen 3.8 Max — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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