Alibaba (Qwen) · language model
Qwen3.8 27B: pricing, context and benchmarks
Qwen3.8 27B is Alibaba (Qwen)'s model released on August 14, 2026. It costs $0.2 per million input tokens and $2.5 per million output tokens, with a 1M-token context window. Epoch AI ranks it #54 of 125 rated models.
| Performance (ECI) | 23/40 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 15/30 | |
| Context | 12/15 | |
| Features | 15/15 |
What you need to know about Qwen3.8 27B
Alibaba (Qwen), based in China, put Qwen3.8 27B online on August 14, 2026. It accepts text, images, and video as input and produces text. Its context window reaches 1,000,000 tokens, larger than 77 % of the models in the registry, and it can write up to 235,929 tokens in one go.
It is a recent model: real-world feedback and independent scores are still scarce.
Qwen3.8 27B pricing
On OpenRouter, Qwen3.8 27B costs $0.2 per million input tokens and $2.5 per million output tokens. Counting three tokens read for every token written, its average price is $0.775 per million, more expensive than 50 % of paid models (1 times the median of $0.76).
A concrete example: a task that sends 2,000 tokens (about 1,500 words) and receives a 500-token answer costs $0.0017. At 1,000 tasks a day, budget $50 a month. The price calculator redoes this with your own volumes.
Tokens already sent and cached are billed at $0.09 per million.
Performance and benchmarks
The Epoch Capabilities Index (ECI), which aggregates published results across many benchmarks, gives Qwen3.8 27B a score of 151.7 (range 149.8 to 153.7). That places it #54 of 125 rated models.
Scores published by Epoch AI on the benchmarks the site tracks:
| Benchmark | What it measures | Score | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARC-AGI-1 | visual abstract-reasoning puzzles | 87.5 % | Aug 14, 2026 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | harder version of the ARC puzzles | 42.4 % | Aug 14, 2026 |
For at least equal performance, Claude Haiku 5.5, GPT-6 Luna, and GPT-5.6 Luna cost at least 30% less.
Features, privacy and local use
- It supports tool calling, so it can drive an AI agent, call APIs or MCP servers.
- It can answer in an enforced JSON format (structured outputs).
- It is a reasoning model: it "thinks" before answering, which helps on hard tasks but uses more output tokens.
Its weights are open and downloadable from Hugging Face: you can run it on your own machines without sending your data to a third party.
Other Alibaba (Qwen) models
| Model | Released | Avg. price | ECI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 Max Prime | Sep 23, 2026 | $6 | — |
| Qwen3.8 Omni Flash | Sep 21, 2026 | $0.23 | — |
| Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Sep 3, 2026 | $3 | 155.1 |
| Qwen3.8 Flash | Aug 26, 2026 | $0.23 | — |
| Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B | Aug 12, 2026 | $3 | — |
| Qwen3.7 Flash | Jul 27, 2026 | $0.06 | 144.1 |
| Qwen3.7 Plus | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.56 | 147 |
| Qwen3.7 Max | May 21, 2026 | $2.21 | 154 |
Verdict
Computed score: 65/100, from public data (performance, price, context, features).
Strengths
- Very large context (1M tokens): long documents or a whole codebase fit in one request.
- Open weights: self-hostable, your data stays with you.
- Agent-ready: tool calling and structured JSON output.
Avoid if…
- your tasks are mostly simple: a non-reasoning model will cost less.
Alternatives
- Inkling Small$0.64
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview$1.13
- Kimi K2.6$1.34
- GLM 5.2$1.78
- Kimi K2.7 Code$1.28
- Grok 4.20$1.56
Comparisons and tools
Learn more
Frequently asked questions
How much does Qwen3.8 27B cost?
$0.2 per million input tokens and $2.5 per million output tokens on OpenRouter (checked October 25, 2026). A task with 2,000 tokens read and 500 written costs $0.0017.
How big is Qwen3.8 27B's context window?
1,000,000 tokens, roughly 750,000 words, with a maximum of 235,929 output tokens.
Can Qwen3.8 27B run locally?
Yes, its weights are published.
Is Qwen3.8 27B suitable for an AI agent?
Technically yes: it supports tool calling and structured outputs. Then check its cost for your volume.
How good is Qwen3.8 27B?
Epoch AI ranks it #54 of 125 rated models (ECI 151.7). On ARC-AGI-1, it scores 87.5%.
What are the alternatives to Qwen3.8 27B?
The closest models on price and performance are Inkling Small, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, and Kimi K2.6.
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Neutrality. No affiliate links. No vendor pays to be reviewed, rated or ranked. Reviews are directed by François Chollet, neutral and factual, and every data point is dated and sourced. How we score