Model comparison
Qwen3-Max vs Upstage Solar Pro 4
Qwen against Upstage, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.
Catalog record checked September 3, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below
Qwen
Qwen3-Max
Frontier
Upstage
Upstage Solar Pro 4
Frontier
| Specification | Qwen3-Max | Upstage Solar Pro 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Qwen | Upstage |
| Tier | Frontier | Frontier |
| Context window | 262K | Winner: 524K |
| Max output | 66K | Not verifiedUnverified |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.20 | Winner: $0.30 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $6 | Winner: $1.20 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Parameters | 1T (proprietary) | Not disclosedUnverified |
| Reasoning levels | low, high, max | low, medium, high |
| Modalities | text, image, video | text |
| API model id | qwen3-max | solar-pro-4 |
| Released | September 23, 2025 | August 10, 2026 |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-08-14) | Winner: 52 | 50 |
Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.
Benchmark receipts
- 2026-08-14: Artificial AnalysisComposite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score. Comparability: directly comparable — AA occasionally rebaselines the index scale between snapshots — a score captured on one date is only comparable to same-snapshot scores (check measuredAt).
Pricing tiers: Qwen3-Max: Qwen API $1.20/$6.00 per MTok (≤32K); higher tiers for 32K–256K. OpenRouter lists ~$0.78/$3.90. Proprietary, API-only. · Upstage Solar Pro 4: List $0.30/$1.20 per MTok; live promo rate is $0.03/$0.12 (90% off through 2026-09-10). Closed API. 524K context.
Qwen3-Max
Qwen3-Max is Alibaba's proprietary 1-trillion-parameter API model with multimodal input.
Best for
- Agentic coding
- Multimodal knowledge work
- Long-context via API
Watch out
Max line is proprietary/API-only (no published weights). Per-provider prices differ.
Upstage Solar Pro 4
Solar Pro 4 is Upstage's closed flagship with a 524K context at a low launch price.
Best for
- Long-context
- Cost-sensitive API
- Korean + English
Watch out
Closed API; promo pricing may end.
When the cheaper one wins
Upstage Solar Pro 4 is cheaper on output at $1.20 per million tokens against $6 for Qwen3-Max — 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. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.
Run the model pickerEvidence confidence: High
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.
- 3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, parameter count.
- 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
- Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 8 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.
- Qwen3-Max: OpenRouter — Qwen3-Max (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Qwen3-Max: AI Release Tracker — Qwen3-Max (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Upstage Solar Pro 4: Upstage — Solar Pro 4 (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Upstage Solar Pro 4: Upstage (accessed 2026-08-29)
Related comparisons
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- Claude Fable 5 vs Upstage Solar Pro 4
- Claude Mythos 5.1 vs Qwen3-Max
- Claude Mythos 5.1 vs Upstage Solar Pro 4
Diving deeper on one model? Qwen3-Max · Upstage Solar Pro 4
Common questions
Qwen3-Max vs Upstage Solar Pro 4
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Is Qwen3-Max or Upstage Solar Pro 4 cheaper for input?
Upstage Solar Pro 4 is cheaper at $0.30 per million input tokens, against $1.20 for Qwen3-Max — roughly 4.0× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Qwen3-Max has tiered pricing: Qwen API $1.20/$6.00 per MTok (≤32K); higher tiers for 32K–256K. OpenRouter lists ~$0.78/$3.90. Proprietary, API-only. Upstage Solar Pro 4 has tiered pricing: List $0.30/$1.20 per MTok; live promo rate is $0.03/$0.12 (90% off through 2026-09-10). Closed API. 524K context.
Is Qwen3-Max or Upstage Solar Pro 4 cheaper for output?
Upstage Solar Pro 4 is cheaper at $1.20 per million output tokens, against $6 for Qwen3-Max — roughly 5.0× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Qwen3-Max has tiered pricing: Qwen API $1.20/$6.00 per MTok (≤32K); higher tiers for 32K–256K. OpenRouter lists ~$0.78/$3.90. Proprietary, API-only. Upstage Solar Pro 4 has tiered pricing: List $0.30/$1.20 per MTok; live promo rate is $0.03/$0.12 (90% off through 2026-09-10). Closed API. 524K context.
Which has the larger context window, Qwen3-Max or Upstage Solar Pro 4?
Upstage Solar Pro 4 accepts 524K tokens against 262K for Qwen3-Max. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do Qwen3-Max and Upstage Solar Pro 4 support the same reasoning levels?
Qwen3-Max exposes low, high, max, while Upstage Solar Pro 4 exposes low, medium, high.
Should I use Qwen3-Max or Upstage Solar Pro 4?
Both sit in the frontier tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. Qwen3-Max suits agentic coding; Upstage Solar Pro 4 suits long-context.
Next step
Choosing between them
The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.
- Input price: Upstage Solar Pro 4 costs $0.30 per 1M tokens versus $1.20 for Qwen3-Max — a 4x difference at the headline tier.
- Context: Upstage Solar Pro 4 takes 524K against 262K for Qwen3-Max — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
- Measured capability: Qwen3-Max leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 52 to 50 (measured 2026-08-14).
Choosing a harness rather than a model — Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, or Lovable? Compare agentic harnesses · Latest releases.