Qwen3.8 Max Prime API pricing
Alibaba · Mid-tier · Qwen · released 2026-09. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-10-14.
Qwen3.8 Max Prime has held the same list price since 2026-09-24 and is the 103rd cheapest of 107 Mid-tier models. Only one host, Alibaba, sells it, so there is no second price to shop. No Arena score is published for it, so it carries no Efficiency score and cannot hold the FinOps Friendly badge.
- Input: $4.00 per 1M tokens
- Output: $12.00 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): Not published
- Prompt-cache read: $0.50 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 1M tokens
- Arena ELO: Not published
Market position
On blended price ($9.60 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 4% of Mid-tier models: 103rd cheapest of 107. Across every category it is cheaper than 12% of priced text models in the catalogue: 247th cheapest of 282.
Licence, size and capabilities
Qwen3.8 Max Prime is open weights, which is not the same as open source: the weights are published, but under Qwen, a licence that restricts some uses. Read it before self-hosting commercially. Its parameter count is not published. Listed capabilities: Text, Vision, Reasoning, Agents. Filling its 1M context window once costs $4.00 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, $4.00 input / $12.00 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba (model maker, price we quote) | $4.00 | $12.00 |
List prices as published on 2026-10-14, 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 | $885 – $1.2K |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $1.3K – $1.8K |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $5.1K – $5.4K |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $3.0K – $3.2K |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $3.1K – $3.6K |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $1.2K – $1.3K |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $1.6K |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $4.5K – $6.0K |
Price history
Qwen3.8 Max Prime entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-24; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $4.00 input / $12.00 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-24. Last checked against the 2026-10-14 snapshot.
Alternatives to Qwen3.8 Max Prime
- Next cheaper Mid-tier model: Nova Premier 1.0 (Amazon) at $9.50 blended, 1% less.
- Next more expensive: GPT-5.2 (OpenAI) at $10.325 blended, 8% more.
Other models from Alibaba
The 8 nearest to Qwen3.8 Max Prime in price, of 32 other Alibaba models in the catalogue. Prices per 1M tokens, input then output.
- Qwen3.8 27B: $0.04 / $2.30
- Qwen3.5-27B: $0.26 / $2.60
- Qwen3.6 27B: $0.32 / $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 (0902): $2.00 / $6.00
All 33 Alibaba models and prices
Common questions about Qwen3.8 Max Prime pricing
- How much does Qwen3.8 Max Prime cost?
- Qwen3.8 Max Prime costs $4.00 per 1M input tokens and $12.00 per 1M output tokens. That is the model maker's own rate (Alibaba). Prices as listed on 2026-10-14.
- Which host is cheapest for Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
- Alibaba is the only host with a published rate, $4.00 input / $12.00 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote. Host rates as listed on 2026-10-14.
- Does Qwen3.8 Max Prime offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, for prompt caching only. Cache reads cost $0.50 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-10-14. No batch pricing is published.
- What would Qwen3.8 Max Prime cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $1.2K on Qwen3.8 Max Prime at the list price quoted on 2026-10-14.
- Can Qwen3.8 Max Prime be self-hosted?
- Yes, within the terms of its licence. Qwen3.8 Max Prime is open weights, which is not the same as open source: the weights are published, but under Qwen, a licence that restricts some uses. Read it before self-hosting commercially.
- Has the price of Qwen3.8 Max Prime changed?
- Qwen3.8 Max Prime entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-24; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $4.00 input / $12.00 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-24. Last checked against the 2026-10-14 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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