# Qwen3.8-Max
Qwen3.8-Max is a large language model released by Alibaba on August 3, 2026, described by the company as the most powerful model in its Qwen series to date.[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) It is a sparse mixture-of-experts model with 2.4 trillion total parameters, of which about 95 billion are reported to activate per token, and a context window of up to 1 million tokens.[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) The Qwen team's launch post calls it the largest model in the [Qwen](https://www.edgepedia.org/qwen-model-family) family to date and the first Qwen-Max-class model whose weights would be open-sourced.[2](https://qwen.ai/blog?id=qwen3.8) This article covers the single release; the Qwen3 family, Alibaba, and the Qwen product line are treated in their own articles.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Preview / general availability | July 19, 2026 (WAIC Shanghai) / August 3, 2026[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) • [8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max) |
| Parameters | 2.4 trillion total, ~95 billion active per token (vendor-reported)[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) |
| Context | 1,000,000 tokens (991K max input, 131K max output)[4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/) |
| Modalities | Text, image, and video input; text output[4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/) |
| License | Custom qwen3.8-max license, not OSI-approved; open weights August 12, 2026[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) |
| API price | $2.00 per million input tokens, $6.00 per million output tokens[4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/) |
## What Qwen3.8-Max is
The model was first shown on July 19, 2026 at WAIC (World AI Conference) in Shanghai, then launched on August 3, 2026 on [Alibaba Cloud Model Studio](https://www.edgepedia.org/bailian-alibaba-cloud) (DashScope) and QwenWork.[8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max) Alibaba's press release describes it as the most powerful model in the Qwen series to date, ranking fifth in Text Arena and second in Vision Arena at launch.[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) It is built on the architectural foundation of Qwen 3.5 and scales that foundation to 2.4 trillion parameters.[2](https://qwen.ai/blog?id=qwen3.8)
## Architecture and training as published
Alibaba describes a Sparse Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture with a hybrid attention mechanism, activating about 95 billion of the 2.4 trillion parameters per token.[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) Independent reporting adds detail Alibaba did not itself publish: 512 experts (10 routed plus 1 shared), 92 layers, a hybrid Gated-DeltaNet/full-attention design, and a native context of 262,144 tokens extensible to about 1,010,000.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/)
The activated-parameter figure carries a caveat. Alibaba did not publish the activated-parameter count in its launch materials; the ~95B figure reported by some outlets is unconfirmed by any Alibaba technical report or model card.[5](https://theairankings.com/alibaba/qwen-3-8-max/) No technical report or model card accompanied the release, so training data and compute remain undisclosed.[6](https://overcentral.com/en/qwen3-8-max/)
## Benchmarks: vendor claims versus independent measurement
Alibaba's launch table, every number of which is a vendor-run evaluation, reports OSWorld-Verified 86.1, [PaperBench](https://www.edgepedia.org/paperbench) 93.0, [Terminal-Bench](https://www.edgepedia.org/terminal-bench) 2.1 86.6, SWE-bench Pro 67.7, GPQA Diamond 92.6, and [Humanity's Last Exam](https://www.edgepedia.org/humanitys-last-exam) 43.6.[4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/) The same table shows the model losing to Claude Fable 5 on SWE-bench Pro by 12 points and finishing last of four models on HLE.[4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/) Vendor-reported multimodal scores include MathVision 95.2 and LogicVista 91.9, with arena standings of 5th Text, 2nd Vision, and 4th Frontend Code.[8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max)
At launch there was no independent verification: no Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index entry, no LMArena Elo, and no standardized [SWE-bench](https://www.edgepedia.org/swe-bench) figure, and SWE-bench Verified was not disclosed.[5](https://theairankings.com/alibaba/qwen-3-8-max/) The model card, license file, and activated-parameter count were unpublished, and the harness, attempt count, and reasoning settings behind each benchmark score were unspecified.[6](https://overcentral.com/en/qwen3-8-max/)
Independent results later diverged from the vendor table in one specific way. Alibaba claimed 86.6% on Terminal-Bench against 84.6% for [Claude Opus 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/claude-opus-4).8, but under [Artificial Analysis](https://www.edgepedia.org/artificial-analysis)'s neutral Terminus 2 harness Qwen3.8-Max scored 81.3% versus Claude's 84.6%, and Vals AI measured 67.4%.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) Static benchmarks replicated fine: independent GPQA came in at 92.6% against a claimed 92.7%.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) On Artificial Analysis's Coding Agent Index the model places #15 of 55, with SWE-bench Verified at 85.6% against Claude Opus 5's 97.0%, and AA-[Omniscience](https://www.edgepedia.org/omniscience) scores it 3.4 on hallucination versus Claude Opus 5's 37.1.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/)
## Comparison with rivals
According to Alibaba, Qwen3.8-Max performs better than Anthropic's Fable 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol on seven programming and general tests and 36 multimodal benchmarks, positioning it for the first time as equal or superior rather than second; this claim was not independently verified at launch.[7](https://beckmann.ai/en/ai-models/2026-08/alibaba-releases-qwen38-max) Independent measurement tells a narrower story: on SWE-bench Pro the vendor's own table has the model at 67.7 where Fable 5 leads at 80.0 (FrontierSWE 73.5 versus 88.8), and the model's vendor-reported weak spots are HLE 43.6 and SWE-bench Pro.[8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max) On the Agentic Index it ranks behind Claude Opus 5 (59.17) and [Grok 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/grok-4).6 (58.68).[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/)
## By the numbers
The scale figures are the headline: 2.4 trillion total parameters with about 95 billion active per token, 512 experts, and a 1-million-token context that holds roughly 991K input tokens (about 983K with thinking on).[1](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1) • [3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) • [5](https://theairankings.com/alibaba/qwen-3-8-max/) List pricing of $2 per million input tokens (flat across the full 1M context) and $6 per million output tokens undercuts the Qwen3.7-Max list price of $2.50/$7.50.[8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max) Despite that token price, the model is the second-most-expensive of 20 models per completed task because it burns more tokens.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) Its brief Agentic Index peak was 55.4, later 3rd place, and the SWE-bench Pro gap to Fable 5 is 67.7 versus 80.0.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) • [8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max)
## Licensing, availability and price
The model ships under a custom qwen3.8-max license that is close to verbatim MIT but with two conditions: attribution is required above 100 million monthly active users or $20 million monthly revenue, and a separate license is required for a Model-as-a-Service or "AI Work Assistant" business above $50 million in twelve months, a clause explicitly naming Alibaba's own Qoder and QwenWork products.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) It is therefore open weights rather than open source: training data is not published and the license is not OSI-approved, though internal use and most commercial use below the thresholds is free.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/)
The open 2.4T weights were released on August 12, 2026 and require datacentre hardware; local use requires Qwen3.8-27B, released August 14, 2026.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) Weights were expected on [Hugging Face](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugging-face) and [ModelScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/modelscope), though Alibaba did not initially specify an exact date, and until release on-premise use was impossible.[7](https://beckmann.ai/en/ai-models/2026-08/alibaba-releases-qwen38-max) The API is served from three regional endpoints (Beijing, Singapore, US-Virginia) with OpenAI- and Anthropic-protocol compatibility, at rate limits of 2 million tokens per minute and 15,000 requests per minute, with cached input at $0.25/M implicit and $0.17/M explicit read.[8](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max) • [4](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/)
## Reception and controversies
The release drew criticism for launching without a model card, license file, or independent verification, and with unspecified benchmark harnesses.[6](https://overcentral.com/en/qwen3-8-max/) As of launch, every ranking between Chinese top models and US competitors came solely from the manufacturers themselves, pending confirmation by external laboratories.[7](https://beckmann.ai/en/ai-models/2026-08/alibaba-releases-qwen38-max)
[The Terminal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-terminal)-Bench harness dispute became the clearest vendor-versus-independent divergence: Alibaba's 86.6% (against Claude Opus 4.8's 84.6%) fell to 81.3% under Artificial Analysis's Terminus 2 harness and 67.4% under Vals AI's measurement, while the model's static benchmark scores replicated within a tenth of a point.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) The Agentic Index followed a similar arc: Qwen3.8-Max briefly topped it on August 6, 2026 by 0.1 points (55.4 to 55.3) on a sub-index that at the time contained only two benchmarks; after a same-day methodology update it ranked 3rd as of August 13.[3](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/) A further criticism was that the multimodal benchmark table compared against Qwen3.7-Plus rather than the stronger Qwen3.7-Max.[6](https://overcentral.com/en/qwen3-8-max/)
## References
1. [Alibaba Unveils Qwen3.8-Max: Its Largest and Most Capable Flagship Model to Date - Alibaba Cloud](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/press-room/alibaba-unveils-qwen3-8-max?_p_lc=1)
2. [Qwen3.8-Max: A New Bar for Coding and Cowork - Qwen](https://qwen.ai/blog?id=qwen3.8)
3. [Qwen 3.8 Max: Specs, Licence & Benchmarks (2026) - Codersera](https://codersera.com/blog/qwen-3-8-max-complete-guide-2026/)
4. [Qwen3.8-Max - Awesome Agents](https://awesomeagents.ai/models/qwen-3-8-max/)
5. [Qwen3.8-Max: Benchmarks, Pricing & Review - The AI Rankings](https://theairankings.com/alibaba/qwen-3-8-max/)
6. [Alibaba's Qwen team releases Qwen3.8-Max, a 2.4T parameter MoE model - Overcentral](https://overcentral.com/en/qwen3-8-max/)
7. [Alibaba releases flagship model Qwen3.8-Max - Beckmann](https://beckmann.ai/en/ai-models/2026-08/alibaba-releases-qwen38-max)
8. [Qwen3.8-Max - Tokenstead](https://tokenstead.ai/models/qwen3-8-max)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Computing and digital systems › Modern AI: foundation models, generative AI, and the AI industry › Model families and named models › Large language model families › Open-weight model families*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license