Qwen3.8 Max (0902) API pricing
Alibaba · Mid-range price tier · released 2026-09. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-10-22.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has held the same list price since 2026-09-05 and is the 66th cheapest of 113 models in the Mid-range price tier. Only one host, Alibaba, sells it, so there is no second price to shop. It is rated a stable release but does not meet all four criteria of the FinOps Friendly badge.
- Input: $2.00 per 1M tokens
- Output: $6.00 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): Not published
- Prompt-cache read: $0.25 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 1M tokens
- Arena ELO: 1483 as of 2026-10-08
Market position
On blended price ($4.80 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 35% of models in the Mid-range price tier: 66th cheapest of 113, tied with 8 others. Across every price tier it is cheaper than 23% of priced text models in the catalogue: 230th cheapest of 308, tied with 8 others. Its Arena ELO of 1483 ranks 17th of the 156 models that carry one, above 90% of them. With an Arena score of 1483, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) clears OptimNow's Strong and Standard working quality thresholds: Strong (Arena 1465+), used for support ticket, knowledge Q&A and marketing content; Standard (Arena 1415+), used for meeting summary, invoice processing and call summary. It is 17 points under the Frontier-grade bar (Arena 1500+), within the benchmark's 20-point noise. Each threshold is a distance below the best ranked model, which scores 1525 on Arena scores as of 8 Oct 2026.
Licence, size and capabilities
No licence is recorded for Qwen3.8 Max (0902), so this page does not say whether it can be self-hosted. Its parameter count is not published. Listed capabilities: Text, Vision, Reasoning, Agents. Filling its 1M context window once costs $2.00 in input tokens at list price.
Pricing by host
A host is a company that runs the model and sells it by the token: the model maker, a cloud platform like Amazon Bedrock, Azure or Vertex, or an independent host. One model, several hosts, and often several prices. This model is sold by 1 host. The price we quote elsewhere on this page is marked. We quote one host's rate so that models stay comparable; it is not a recommendation to buy there.
Alibaba is the only host with a published rate, $2.00 input / $6.00 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba (model maker, price we quote) | $2.00 | $6.00 |
List prices as published on 2026-10-22, via OpenRouter. Negotiated rates, committed-use discounts and provisioned capacity are not shown.
Monthly cost at 100K requests, by business use case
From the after-discounts figure (prompt caching on the cached input share, batch API for async workloads, only where Alibaba publishes those rates), which assumes you implement both, to the list price. One figure means no discount is published.
| Use case | Tokens (in/out) | Monthly (after discounts – list) |
|---|---|---|
| Support Ticket | 1,500 / 500 | $443 – $600 |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $635 – $880 |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $2.5K – $2.7K |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $1.5K – $1.6K |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $1.5K – $1.8K |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $581 – $660 |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $785 – $820 |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $2.3K – $3.0K |
Price history
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-05; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-05. Last checked against the 2026-10-22 snapshot.
Alternatives to Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
- Next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier: Palmyra X5 (Writer) at $4.38 blended, 9% less.
- Next more expensive: GLM 5.2 (Zhipu) at $4.9102 blended, 2% more.
The nearest models in the Mid-range price tier on Arena ELO, each with its blended price and score difference against Qwen3.8 Max (0902).
- GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI): $2.00 in / $10.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1484 (58% more expensive, 1 ELO point higher)
- Gemini 3.6 Flash (Google): $0.75 in / $3.75 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1482 (41% cheaper, 1 ELO point lower)
- Gemini 3.7 Flash (Google): $0.75 in / $3.75 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1486 (41% cheaper, 3 ELO points higher)
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview (Google): $2.00 in / $12.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1487 (88% more expensive, 4 ELO points higher)
- Cheapest within 15 Arena points: GLM 5.3 Flash (Zhipu), 97% cheaper, 8 ELO points lower, out of 31 models in that band.
- Highest Arena ELO within 20% of this price: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) itself has the highest score of the 8 models priced within 20% of it.
Other models from Alibaba
The 8 nearest to Qwen3.8 Max (0902) in price, of 41 other Alibaba models in the catalogue. Prices per 1M tokens, input then output.
- Qwen3.6 27B: $0.25 / $2.00
- Qwen3.5-27B: $0.27 / $2.16
- Qwen3.5-122B-A10B: $0.40 / $3.20
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507: $0.45 / $3.50
- Qwen3.5 397B A17B: $0.50 / $3.60
- Qwen3.7 Max: $1.475 / $4.425
- Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B: $2.00 / $6.00
- Qwen3.8 Max Prime: $4.00 / $12.00
All 42 Alibaba models and prices
Common questions about Qwen3.8 Max (0902) pricing
- How much does Qwen3.8 Max (0902) cost?
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $6.00 per 1M output tokens. That is the model maker's own rate (Alibaba). Prices as listed on 2026-10-22.
- Which host is cheapest for Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
- Alibaba is the only host with a published rate, $2.00 input / $6.00 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote. Host rates as listed on 2026-10-22.
- Does Qwen3.8 Max (0902) offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, for prompt caching only. Cache reads cost $0.25 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-10-22. No batch pricing is published.
- What would Qwen3.8 Max (0902) cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $600 on Qwen3.8 Max (0902) at the list price quoted on 2026-10-22.
- Can Qwen3.8 Max (0902) be self-hosted?
- No licence is recorded for Qwen3.8 Max (0902), so this page does not say whether it can be self-hosted.
- Has the price of Qwen3.8 Max (0902) changed?
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-05; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-05. Last checked against the 2026-10-22 snapshot.
These are list prices. Your real cost also depends on caching and batching, negotiated discounts, marketplace agreements, and the contracts you already have. OptimNow audits exactly that.
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