GPT-6.1 Terra vs Qwen3.8 Max
GPT-6.1 Terra and Qwen3.8 Max are within three points on the Models at Work leaderboard, which we treat as a tie (65 vs 63 out of 100). On independent tests alone, Qwen3.8 Max is ahead (78 vs 64). GPT-6.1 Terra is cheaper: 1,000 support replies cost about $5 at list price, against $8.40 on Qwen3.8 Max, which is 1.7 times as much. On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, one of the independent tests, GPT-6.1 Terra leads 51 to 34.
| GPT-6.1 Terra · OpenAI | Qwen3.8 Max · Alibaba | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #13 | #16 |
| Score (0–100) | 65 | 63 |
| Kind of work | Everyday default | Everyday default |
| Price per 1M tokens | $1 to read · $5 to write | $2 to read · $6 to write |
| Reads at once | 1.05M tokens (about 788,000 words) | 984K tokens (about 738,000 words) |
| Where you can get it | OpenAI API, Amazon Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu | Alibaba Cloud Model Studio |
| Can a company host it itself | No | No |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 51 | 34 |
| Humanity's Last Exam, Diamond (Scale) | 35.70 | Not measured |
| Arena Text score | Not measured | 1483 (rank 22) |
| Arena WebDev score (qwen3.8-max-0902) | Not measured | 1674 (rank 10) |
| Scale MCP Atlas (Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B open-weight variant, xHigh) | Not measured | 84.50 |
| Humanity's Sixth Sense (Scale) | Not measured | 33.00 |
| Best for | High-volume back-office tasks, Filling in forms and moving data between systems, Summarising documents | Multilingual customer chat, Automating multi-step tasks across business systems, Teams already buying from Alibaba Cloud |
Cost of 1,000 jobs
| 1,000 of these | GPT-6.1 Terra | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Support repliesthe customer message, the account notes and two help articles read; a 300-word reply written | $5 | $8.40 |
| Documents processeda two-page invoice or form read; the fields pulled out | $3.50 | $5.80 |
| Calls summariseda 40-minute call transcript read; a summary and next steps written | $13 | $24 |
| Contracts revieweda 40-page contract read against a checklist; a memo of issues written | $38 | $69 |
| Drafts writtena brief and one example read; a 600-word email or proposal section written | $5.50 | $7.80 |
Worked out from each vendor’s list price and a fixed size for each job. A product built on a model charges its own price on top. See what every model costs for the same jobs.
Choose GPT-6.1 Terra for
- High-volume back-office tasks
- Filling in forms and moving data between systems
- Summarising documents
Half the list price of GPT-6.1 Sol for four points less on Artificial Analysis's index (51 against 55): the cheaper OpenAI default where the work is routine.
Caveats: Requests that feed it more than 272,000 tokens of text at once are billed at twice the input price and 1.5 times the output price, per OpenAI. The 51 is at its top effort setting, where a test task took 14.1 minutes; at the next setting down it scores 42. OpenAI sells it for operating software on screen like a person would; no independent test of that was found. The ChatGPT plans are listed from our researcher's reading of OpenAI's help page, which blocked automated reading this run.
Choose Qwen3.8 Max for
- Multilingual customer chat
- Automating multi-step tasks across business systems
- Teams already buying from Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba's hosted flagship scores 34 on Artificial Analysis's index, a little above the open models GLM-5.3 (32) and MiMo-V2.6-Pro (30), at about 1.4 times GLM's list price and about five times MiMo's.
Caveats: The hosted model is closed; the open version is a different model that Artificial Analysis has not scored and that needs data-centre hardware. Slow: about 35 tokens (word-pieces) a second in Artificial Analysis's measurement. The price is Artificial Analysis's listing, not read from Alibaba's own page. Alibaba Cloud Model Studio is listed from our researcher's reading of Alibaba's 3 August announcement; the page could not be re-read this run. It ranks 16th partly because the scoring marks every model on where a business can buy it, and it has one listed place.
What people running them say
Qwen3.8 Max: The launch thread on Hacker News, a developer forum (1,124 upvotes, 612 comments), was dominated by people who already run the smaller Qwen 3.6 and 3.8 models on their own computers and are cancelling Claude subscriptions; the Max itself was praised as the first model of Qwen's top class that anyone can download and host. Sceptics (Aurornis) say Qwen output 'has to be discarded for anything other than really easy tasks', and several note that at current electricity prices hosting it yourself costs more than DeepSeek's discounted rate for repeated text.
Questions people ask
Which is better, GPT-6.1 Terra or Qwen3.8 Max?
GPT-6.1 Terra and Qwen3.8 Max are within three points on the Models at Work leaderboard, which we treat as a tie (65 vs 63 out of 100). On independent tests alone, Qwen3.8 Max is ahead (78 vs 64). GPT-6.1 Terra is cheaper: 1,000 support replies cost about $5 at list price, against $8.40 on Qwen3.8 Max, which is 1.7 times as much. On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, one of the independent tests, GPT-6.1 Terra leads 51 to 34.
When should I choose GPT-6.1 Terra over Qwen3.8 Max?
Choose GPT-6.1 Terra for high-volume back-office tasks, filling in forms and moving data between systems, summarising documents. Half the list price of GPT-6.1 Sol for four points less on Artificial Analysis's index (51 against 55): the cheaper OpenAI default where the work is routine.
When should I choose Qwen3.8 Max over GPT-6.1 Terra?
Choose Qwen3.8 Max for multilingual customer chat, automating multi-step tasks across business systems, teams already buying from alibaba cloud. Alibaba's hosted flagship scores 34 on Artificial Analysis's index, a little above the open models GLM-5.3 (32) and MiMo-V2.6-Pro (30), at about 1.4 times GLM's list price and about five times MiMo's.
Which is cheaper, GPT-6.1 Terra or Qwen3.8 Max?
GPT-6.1 Terra costs $1 per million tokens it reads (input) and $5 per million tokens it writes (output) on OpenAI's list price (OpenAI API pricing, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word. Qwen3.8 Max costs $2 per million tokens it reads (input) and $6 per million tokens it writes (output) on Alibaba's list price (Qwen3.8 Max (0902) - Artificial Analysis, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word.
What do 1,000 jobs cost on GPT-6.1 Terra and Qwen3.8 Max?
At list price: 1,000 support replies cost $5 on GPT-6.1 Terra and $8.40 on Qwen3.8 Max; 1,000 documents processed cost $3.50 on GPT-6.1 Terra and $5.80 on Qwen3.8 Max; 1,000 calls summarised cost $13 on GPT-6.1 Terra and $24 on Qwen3.8 Max; 1,000 contracts reviewed cost $38 on GPT-6.1 Terra and $69 on Qwen3.8 Max; 1,000 drafts written cost $5.50 on GPT-6.1 Terra and $7.80 on Qwen3.8 Max. A product built on either model charges its own price on top.
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed. 40% is independent testing (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale, Epoch, Vals and others; each test is scaled against the best score on this board, and tests of real work, such as finished freelance projects or professional tasks, count double the exams). 30% is price: the vendor's list price for a typical mix of reading and writing, on a fixed scale from $0.05 to $60 per million tokens, so a model that costs a fifth as much gains real ground. 15% is what people report after running it, from Signals and linked threads. 15% is fit: how much text it can take in at once and where a business can get it (the products and clouds that carry it), with a small credit for open weights. A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent test yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted. Prices are vendor list prices where published; a typical mix assumes three parts reading to one part writing.