Qwen-Max vs Qwen3.8-Max pricing
Side-by-side LLM API pricing.Qwen-Max is cheaper on input ($1.60 vs $2.00 /1M), and Qwen3.8-Max is cheaper on output ($6.00 vs $6.40 /1M).
| Attribute | Qwen-Max | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Tier | Flagship | Flagship |
| Status | Legacy | GA |
| Context window | 32.8K | 1M |
| Input /1M | $1.60 | $2.00 |
| Output /1M | $6.40 | $6.00 |
| Cached input /1M | $0.32 | $0.25 |
| Batch input /1M | $0.80 | — |
| Batch output /1M | $3.20 | — |
| Blended (avg in+out) | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| 1M in + 1M out | $8.00 | $8.00 |
| 1M in (90% cached) + 100K out | $1.09 | $1.03 |
List prices, USD, directional. Rates are provider list prices per 1M tokens and are meant for comparison, not billing. Batch rates shown as 50% off are derived where a provider offers batch but does not publish a separate figure. Preview, promo, intro, peak/off-peak, long-context, and third-party-host prices are labeled where they apply. Token counts vary by tokenizer, so per-token price is not always a like-for-like cost. Always confirm with the provider before relying on a number. Prices as of 2026-09-29.
Which should you pick?
For a balanced job (1M input + 1M output), both models cost $8.00. If your prompts are large and reused, prompt caching changes the maths — the cache-heavy row above shows a 90%-cached input scenario. If your work can run asynchronously, both providers' batch rates cut the bill further where offered.
Full price matrices: Qwen-Max pricing → · Qwen3.8-Max pricing → · Back to the LLM pricing hub →