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Qwen 3.8 Max vs GPT-5.6
Of the 6 public leaderboards that rate both, Qwen 3.8 Max scores higher on 1 and GPT-5.6 on 5. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 50.2 and GPT-5.6 at 70.7 (out of 100).
Scores as published by each board; table composed September 24, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Qwen 3.8 Max | GPT-5.6 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,671.2 | 1,617.1 | Qwen 3.8 Max |
| LiveBench global average (0-100) | 78.5 | 81.1 | GPT-5.6 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 62.5 | 71.7 | GPT-5.6 |
| LLM Stats LLM Stats Score · composite (0-100), their rendered top 15 | 51.5 | 54.4 | GPT-5.6 |
| Vals AI Vals Index accuracy % · weighted finance + coding tasks | 51.8 | 63.7 | GPT-5.6 |
| Artificial Analysis intelligence index · measured runs only | 45.4 | 47 | GPT-5.6 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
Qwen 3.8 Max at a glance
- Developer
- Alibaba
- Status
- Live since August 1, 2026
Live - flagship since Aug 1 · 2.4T tier listed Aug 12.
Qwen3.8-Max quietly lost its preview label — Alibaba is now serving it as the flagship
2026-08-03 · Alibaba is serving Qwen3.8-Max on chat.qwen.ai under the plain id `qwen3.8-max`. The preview suffix is gone.
GPT-5.6 at a glance
- Developer
- OpenAI
- Status
- Live since July 9, 2026
Live — Sol · Terra · Luna since Jul 9 · repriced Jul 30: Luna −80%, Terra −20%.
Three ChatGPT leaks in five hours were one release note — and the line none of them quoted is the real change
2026-08-06 · Three separate leaks landed in five hours claiming three separate ChatGPT changes: an upgraded GPT-5.6 Sol for Plus and Pro, a new reasoning slider rolling out, and unlimited chats coming for free users. All three are real.
OpenAI cut Luna 80% — Azure kept the old price, so Luna costs 5× more on Azure than direct
2026-08-04 · OpenAI cut GPT-5.6 Luna by 80% on July 30. We covered it. What we did not check — and should have, because it is the number that actually lands on a bill — is whether the clouds passed it on.
Qwen 3.8 Max vs GPT-5.6: quick answers
Which is better, Qwen 3.8 Max or GPT-5.6?
It depends on what you measure. Of the 6 public leaderboards that rate both, Qwen 3.8 Max scores higher on 1 and GPT-5.6 on 5. Qwen 3.8 Max's widest lead is on LMArena; GPT-5.6's widest lead is on Vals AI. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 50.2 and GPT-5.6 at 70.7 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Qwen 3.8 Max or GPT-5.6?
Qwen 3.8 Max. It went live on August 1, 2026, 23 days after GPT-5.6 (July 9, 2026).
Who makes Qwen 3.8 Max and GPT-5.6?
Qwen 3.8 Max is from Alibaba; GPT-5.6 is from OpenAI.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed September 24, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
More comparisons
Watch free: Chrome push the moment a new model answers on a public API, an email about 15 minutes later. Also: the bench index · the wire