High-volume, cost-sensitive work
Choose GPT-5.4
GPT-5.4 costs 6% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($5.63 against $6.00 per million tokens).
GPT-5.4 vs Qwen3.8 Max Prime: price, context and capabilities
Choose GPT-5.4 for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents). Choose Qwen3.8 Max Prime for writing and code generation and the latest release.
In short
- GPT-5.4 is 6% cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max Prime at the headline price ($5.63 / 1M tokens vs $6.00 / 1M tokens).
- GPT-5.4 reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
- Qwen3.8 Max Prime is the newer model (Sep 23, 2026, against Mar 5, 2026).
- Only GPT-5.4 offers batch api.
Which should you choose?
Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.
Writing and code generation
Choose Qwen3.8 Max Prime
Qwen3.8 Max Prime charges $12.00 per million output tokens, against $15.00 for GPT-5.4. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.
Reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents)
Choose GPT-5.4
GPT-5.4 charges $0.25 per million cached input tokens, against $0.50 for Qwen3.8 Max Prime.
Latest release
Choose Qwen3.8 Max Prime
Qwen3.8 Max Prime is the newer release (Sep 23, 2026, against Mar 5, 2026 for GPT-5.4).
Monthly cost at three volumes
| Volume | GPT-5.4 | Qwen3.8 Max Prime | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens | $6.25 | $7.00 | GPT-5.4, $0.75 less |
| Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens | $125.00 | $140.00 | GPT-5.4, $15.00 less |
| Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens | $2,750 | $3,200 | GPT-5.4, $450.00 less |
Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.
Specifications side by side
| GPT-5.4 | Qwen3.8 Max Prime | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) |
| Category | Language models | Language models |
| Status | Legacy | Generally available |
| Headline price | $5.63 / 1M tokens | $6.00 / 1M tokens |
| Input | $2.50 / 1M tokens | $4.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $12.00 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.25 / 1M tokens | $0.50 / 1M tokens |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 128k | 131k |
| Released | Mar 5, 2026 | Sep 23, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | August 2025 | No data |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Capabilities | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching |
| API model id | gpt-5.4 | qwen3.8-max-prime |
Benchmarks side by side
Leader in bold.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.4 | Qwen3.8 Max Prime |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench Hard | 57.6% | No data |
| GPQA Diamond | 92% | No data |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 43.7% | No data |
| IFBench (instruction following) | 73.9% | No data |
| τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) | 87.1% | No data |
| MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) | 78.4% | No data |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 82% | No data |
Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose GPT-5.4 or Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
Choose GPT-5.4 for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents). Choose Qwen3.8 Max Prime for writing and code generation and the latest release.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 or Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
GPT-5.4 is 6% cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max Prime at the headline price ($5.63 / 1M tokens vs $6.00 / 1M tokens).
Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.4 or Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
GPT-5.4 reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
What is the difference between GPT-5.4 and Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
GPT-5.4 is made by OpenAI and Qwen3.8 Max Prime by Alibaba Cloud (Qwen). GPT-5.4 is 6% cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max Prime at the headline price ($5.63 / 1M tokens vs $6.00 / 1M tokens). GPT-5.4 reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M. Qwen3.8 Max Prime is the newer model (Sep 23, 2026, against Mar 5, 2026). Only GPT-5.4 offers batch api.
How much do GPT-5.4 and Qwen3.8 Max Prime cost per month?
At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, GPT-5.4 costs $125.00 and Qwen3.8 Max Prime costs $140.00, at standard rates.
Which is newer, GPT-5.4 or Qwen3.8 Max Prime?
Qwen3.8 Max Prime was released on Sep 23, 2026 and GPT-5.4 on Mar 5, 2026.