Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902 compared

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 leads the intelligence index 33.7 to 20.1. Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh costs 63% less on blended price. See token costs, speed and which to pick.

Metric	Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)	Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Intelligence Index	20.1	33.7
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.50	$2.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$3.00	$6.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	38	38
Time to first token	4.1s	3.2s
Release date	2026-08-14	2026-09-02

Metric

Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)

Qwen3.8 Max (0902)

Intelligence Index

20.1

33.7

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.50

$2.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$3.00

$6.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

Time to first token

4.1s

3.2s

Release date

2026-08-14

2026-09-02

Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) share a maker, Alibaba, but not a price sheet or a benchmark profile. Qwen3.8 Max 0902 leads the intelligence index 33.7 to 20.1, a gap of 13.6 points. All numbers are the catalogue's recorded values; nobody ran either model by hand for this page.

The headline benchmark

Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh records 20.1 on the intelligence index and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 records 33.7. A difference this size usually separates one tier of model from the next. Put another way, Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh would need 68% more on this index to draw level.

For context, that places Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh 78th and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 44th out of 109 scored models still on offer.

For coding or maths work specifically, the catalogue has no dedicated index on either side yet.

Running costs

The list prices are $0.50 in and $3.00 out for Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh, and $2.00 in and $6.00 out for Qwen3.8 Max 0902, per million tokens. Qwen3.8 Max 0902 costs twice as much per output token.

For a sample workload of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens, Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh would cost $1.10 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.20, a difference of $2.10. Scale it up to writing 2,000 drafts of 2,000 output tokens from 300-token prompts and the bill is $12.30 for Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh against $25.20 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902.

How fast they respond

Once a response is under way, Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh produces roughly 38 tokens per second against 38 tokens per second for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. Throughput is close to level. The wait for the first token averages 4.1 seconds on Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh against 3.2 seconds on Qwen3.8 Max 0902. Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh waits 1.3 times as long before its first token.

Put together, a 2,000-token answer would take about 56 seconds from Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh and 56 seconds from Qwen3.8 Max 0902, counting the first-token wait.

Value for money

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.056 for Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh and $0.089 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902, per million tokens. So Qwen3.8 Max 0902 buys its higher score at a premium, while Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh is the value pick, paying 37% less per point.

Which is newer

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 arrived on September 2, 2026, 19 days after Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh (August 14, 2026). They are effectively contemporaries.

Common questions about Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh and Qwen3.8 Max 0902

Is Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh better than Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

It depends on what you need: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 scores higher on the intelligence index, 33.7 to 20.1; Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh is 63% cheaper on blended price; and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 reaches its first token sooner.

Was this comparison tested by hand?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Who makes Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh and Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Both are Alibaba models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh was released on August 14, 2026 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 on September 2, 2026.

Which is newer, Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is newer. It was released on September 2, 2026, 19 days after Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh (August 14, 2026).

How much do Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 cost?

Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh is cheaper on a blended basis. Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh lists $0.50 per million input tokens and $3.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max 0902 lists $2.00 and $6.00. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $1.10 against $3.20.

Final whistle

On balance the numbers favour Qwen3.8 Max 0902, though Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh keeps a case of its own. Pick Qwen3.8 27B Xhigh if cost matters ($3.00 against $6.00 per million output tokens). Pick Qwen3.8 Max 0902 if you need the higher overall score (33.7 against 20.1) and users are waiting on the first word.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.