Qwen3.6 27B vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads Qwen3.6 27B on coding, 62.4 to 36.8 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Qwen3.6 27B costs 2.2x less per output token ($2.70 vs $6.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 20 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen3.6 27B or Qwen3.8 Max (0902): which to pick
Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding: it scores 62.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 36.8 for Qwen3.6 27B.
Pick Qwen3.6 27B for output tokens 2.2x cheaper ($2.70 vs $6.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($1.30 against $1.32).
- Shared results
- 20
- Qwen3.6 27B only
- 5
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) only
- 94
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 62.4 against 36.8.
2 and 5 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 45.4 against 21.4.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 56.0 against 18.5.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a GPQA Diamond result, 93.7%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a MMLU Pro result, 88.6%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a Design Arena: websites result, 1275.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B $0.0018, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $0.0050 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B $1.30, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3.6 27B 36.8 from 2 benchmarks, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 62.4 from 5 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 37.5 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Qwen3.6 27B 11.9% against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 64.7%, 52.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3.6 27B $2.70 against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $6.00 per million output tokens, 2.2x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3.6 27B takes 262K tokens, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 1M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Qwen3.6 27B | Bars | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 4 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 4 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 19 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 60.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1674 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| AA Coding Index | 53.7 | 76.2 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 87.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 70.0% | 85.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 34.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 11.9% | 64.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.5% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 28.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SciCode | 42.8% | 53.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.8% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| FrontierSWE | Not measured | 17.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1502 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1498 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1692 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1649 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1637 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 21.4 | 45.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.2 | 157.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 18.5 | 56.0 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1300 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1305 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1224 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1190 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1234 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1232 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 993 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 69.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 32.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 42.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 32.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 94.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 63.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Search | Not measured | 1261 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 93.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 88.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 23.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.2% | 92.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.1% | 43.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 85.9% | 92.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 46.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 7.0% | 38.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1496 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1507 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1503 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1323 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1336 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 91.1% | 100.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 35.1% | 74.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 46.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 58.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1501 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1491 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MathArena | Not measured | 51.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 88.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 53.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 62.3% | 65.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.3% | 75.5% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.3% | 64.0% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 47.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1512 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1503 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1492 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1480 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1275 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1336 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1312 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1282 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1336 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1292 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1200 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 78.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 78.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 45.6% | 51.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| IFBench | 67.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 77.3% | 80.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| DTBench | 78.1% | 92.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMCA | 34.5% | 46.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1483 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1481 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1477 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1313 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1491 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1473 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1539 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1478 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1473 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1460 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1498 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1489 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1482 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1471 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1489 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1488 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1477 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1464 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1311 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1358 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1322 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1304 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1312 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| EQ-Bench 4 | 1026 | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3.6 27B costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3.6 27B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3.6 27B costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Qwen3.6 27B | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | April 27, 2026 | September 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.45 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.70 | $6.00 |
| Coding index | 36.8 | 62.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 5 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.30 | $1.32 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.6 27B better than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding?
Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding: it scores 62.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 36.8 for Qwen3.6 27B. Pick Qwen3.6 27B for output tokens 2.2x cheaper ($2.70 vs $6.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($1.30 against $1.32).
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 27B or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.45 per million input tokens and $2.70 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Qwen3.6 27B costs $1.30 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 27B or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Qwen3.8 Max (0902), with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.6 27B vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902) comparison based on?
20 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Qwen3.6 27B's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s on 5. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.