Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 Max | Grok 4.6 (medium) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $2 | $2 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $6 | $6 |
Verdict. Grok 4.6 (medium) takes the aggregate benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 categories. Real workloads usually care about a handful of specific tasks — see the per-benchmark table above.
Pricing. Both models sit in the mid-tier bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Grok 4.6 (medium) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Grok 4.6 (medium) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. Qwen3.8 Max is strongest on Coding Index (71.8), Intelligence Index (58.1). Grok 4.6 (medium) leads on Coding Index (74.4), Intelligence Index (59.0).
Speed. On throughput, Grok 4.6 (medium) generates tokens at 61 tok/s versus 39 tok/s — about 36% faster. On time-to-first-token, Qwen3.8 Max responds in 2500ms vs 28470ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. Alibaba and SpaceXAI sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: Alibaba tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while SpaceXAI often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Qwen3.8 Max costs $150.00 ($1800/year); Grok 4.6 (medium) costs $150.00 ($1800/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Qwen3.8 Max ≈ $22.00/run, Grok 4.6 (medium) ≈ $22.00/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Qwen3.8 Max ≈ $1000/run, Grok 4.6 (medium) ≈ $1000/run.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.
Grok 4.6 (medium) wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Qwen3.8 Max. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Grok 4.6 (medium) generates tokens faster at 61 tok/s vs 39 tok/s. Qwen3.8 Max also has lower time-to-first-token (2.50s vs 28.47s).
Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, Grok 4.6 (medium) for stronger benchmark performance, and Grok 4.6 (medium) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.