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Qwen 3.8 Max vs Claude Opus 5
Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Qwen 3.8 Max on both public leaderboards that rate them. 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 55.6 and Claude Opus 5 at 74.1 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Qwen 3.8 Max costs $2 / $6 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Opus 5 $5 / $25.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 8, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Qwen 3.8 Max | Claude Opus 5 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,677.1 | 1,691.3 | Claude Opus 5 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 62.5 | 80.6 | Claude Opus 5 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 38.3 (#28 of 45) and Claude Opus 5 at 86.7 (#6). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Qwen 3.8 Max | Claude Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,502.2 | 1,532.7 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 77.1 | 88.4 |
Qwen 3.8 Max at a glance
- Developer
- Alibaba
- Status
- Live since August 1, 2026
- API price
- $2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens · Alibaba, qwen3.8-max
- Context window
- 1M tokens
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.
Claude Opus 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since July 24, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live — detected 16:51 UTC Jul 24, alert fired 61s later · superseded by Opus 5.5 on Sep 22 and moved to Anthropic's legacy list; still served at $5/$25, which is now MORE than its successor.
Claude Opus 5 is live — we detected it at 16:51 UTC and had alerts out 61 seconds later
2026-07-24 · Anthropic's Claude Opus 5 went live on the public API today. Our checkers saw the id appear at 16:51:33 UTC, confirmed it on the next 60-second sweep, and the alert blast went out at 16:52:34 — sixty-one seconds from first sighting to inbox.
Qwen 3.8 Max vs Claude Opus 5: quick answers
Which is better, Qwen 3.8 Max or Claude Opus 5?
It depends on what you measure. Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Qwen 3.8 Max on both public leaderboards that rate them. Claude Opus 5's widest lead is on SimpleBench. 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 55.6 and Claude Opus 5 at 74.1 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Qwen 3.8 Max or Claude Opus 5?
Qwen 3.8 Max. It went live on August 1, 2026, 8 days after Claude Opus 5 (July 24, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Qwen 3.8 Max or Claude Opus 5?
Qwen 3.8 Max is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Qwen 3.8 Max is $2 input / $6 output per million tokens and Claude Opus 5 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-08.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen 3.8 Max or Claude Opus 5?
Neither. Both take 1M tokens.
How do Qwen 3.8 Max and Claude Opus 5 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 38.3 (#28 of 45) and Claude Opus 5 at 86.7 (#6). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Qwen 3.8 Max and Claude Opus 5?
Qwen 3.8 Max is from Alibaba; Claude Opus 5 is from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 8, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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