Qwen3.8 Max vs GPT-6.1 Sol: API price, context and cost per task
Alibaba's flagship Qwen3.8 Max against OpenAI's high-end GPT-6.1 Sol.
On output, Qwen3.8 Max is 1.7x cheaper ($6 vs $10 per million tokens). On input both charge $2 per million tokens. GPT-6.1 Sol reads more per request: 1,050,000 tokens against 1,000,000.
Data updated 2026-11-11 - source: public OpenRouter model list, refreshed daily. Prices in USD, excluding VAT.
Specs and prices side by side
| Qwen3.8 Max | GPT-6.1 Sol | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Alibaba (Qwen) | OpenAI |
| Input, per 1M tokens | $2 | $2 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $6 | $10 |
| Cached input, per 1M | $0.25 | $0.1 |
| Batch (input / output) | $1.15 / $3.45 | $1 / $5 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,050,000 |
| Max output | 131,072 | 128,000 |
| Input types | text, images, video | text, images, files |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| On OpenRouter since | 3 Sep 2026 | 29 Sep 2026 |
Highlighted: the cheaper price or the larger limit. "Not published" means the figure is not in the public model listing yet.
What a month of work costs
Four typical workloads at today's list prices. Reasoning models also bill their thinking as output tokens, so treat output-heavy numbers as a floor.
| Workload | Qwen3.8 Max | GPT-6.1 Sol | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot10,000 conversations a month, about 1,500 input and 400 output tokens each | $54 | $70 | Qwen3.8 Max 1.3x cheaper |
| Coding agent300 tasks a month, about 80,000 input tokens (code context re-read across steps) and 8,000 output tokens each | $62.40 | $72 | Qwen3.8 Max 1.2x cheaper |
| Coding agent with caching70% of input served from the prompt cache | $33 | $40.08 | |
| Long-document analysis1,000 documents a month, about 50,000 tokens in and a 1,500-token summary out | $109 | $115 | Qwen3.8 Max 1.1x cheaper |
| Content drafting600 articles a month, about 3,000 tokens of brief in and 2,500 tokens of draft out | $12.60 | $18.60 | Qwen3.8 Max 1.5x cheaper |
Price stability over the last 30 days
- Qwen3.8 Max: no change in the last 30 days.
- GPT-6.1 Sol: no change in the last 30 days.
What the vendors and benchmarks say
Qwen3.8 Max
"Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is an updated snapshot of Qwen3.8 Max from Alibaba's Qwen team."model card on OpenRouter
GPT-6.1 Sol
"GPT-6.1 Sol is an upgrade to GPT-6 Sol from OpenAI, positioned below the flagship GPT-6 Astra in the GPT-6 series."model card on OpenRouter
- Listed on OpenRouter on 29 September 2026, one week after GPT-6 Sol, which it upgrades. Source: OpenRouter
Which one to pick
Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper on output and accepts video; Sol has a slightly larger context window, file input and a larger output limit. If output volume dominates your bill, Qwen is worth a test; for agentic coding and computer use - the work Sol is positioned for - stay with Sol.
Cheaper models with a similar context window
Models from our comparison set that cost less than both on a blended basis and support tool calling. They are not equivalent in quality - test before switching.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Google): $0.825 / $4.13 per million tokens, 1.05M context
- DeepSeek V4 Pro (DeepSeek): $0.955 / $1.91 per million tokens, 1.05M context
- GLM-5.3 (Z.ai): $0.0699 / $1.4 per million tokens, 1.05M context
Related reading
- Qwen AI Models Guide: Qwen3.8 Max, Pricing & Polish Test
- Qwen3.8 Max Test: 13 Tasks, Scores, Pricing & Access
- Lesser-Known AI Models: MiMo, Qwen3.8 Max, GLM-5.3, Muse Spark
- Gemini 4 Carbon test: 50+ tasks vs Argon, Claude Fable 5.2 and GPT-6.1 Sol
- Claude Fable 5.2 vs GPT-6.1 Sol vs Gemini 4 Argon: Price, Benchmarks
- GPT-6.1 Terra vs Claude Sonnet 5.5: Polish Test Results
How we calculate
Prices are the public per-token list rates from OpenRouter's model list, which match the vendors' own API prices for first-party models and show the current routed price for open-weight models served by several hosts. Monthly costs multiply those rates by the token volumes in each workload; caching assumes the stated share of input is billed at the cached-input rate. Benchmarks and claims are quoted from the named sources, mostly the vendors themselves - treat them as a guide and test on your own tasks. See also the AI cost calculator and all tracked model prices.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max or GPT-6.1 Sol?
As of 11 Nov 2026, Qwen3.8 Max costs $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens; GPT-6.1 Sol costs $2 and $10. Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper in 4 of the 4 monthly workloads we price on this page. The real bill also depends on how many reasoning tokens each model writes.
Which has the larger context window?
Qwen3.8 Max reads up to 1,000,000 tokens and can write up to 131,072; GPT-6.1 Sol reads up to 1,050,000 and writes up to 128,000.
How much does a support chatbot cost on each model?
For 10,000 conversations a month (about 15 million input and 4 million output tokens) you would pay about $54 on Qwen3.8 Max and $70 on GPT-6.1 Sol at list prices, before any caching or batch discounts.
Do they offer prompt caching or batch discounts?
Qwen3.8 Max lists cached input at $0.25 per million and a batch rate of $1.15 / $3.45. GPT-6.1 Sol lists cached input at $0.1 per million and a batch rate of $1 / $5. Caching matters most for agents and chatbots that resend the same context on every turn.
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