Noometry

Alternatives

Best Qwen Alternatives in October 2026

The strongest alternative to Qwen as of October 2026 is GPT-6 Astra from OpenAI: 14.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

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  1. GPT-6 Astra OpenAI

    14.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier.

    Score 70.8, $20 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  2. Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic

    12.3 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier.

    Score 69.0, $20 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  3. Gemini 3.8 Flash Google

    5.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× cheaper per token.

    Score 61.8, $1.50 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  4. Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

    2.8 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× pricier; open weights.

    Score 59.5, $6 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  5. Grok 4.6 xAI

    about as strong as Qwen3.8 Max, same price.

    Score 56.9, $3 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  6. GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

    1.9 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 1.4× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 54.8, $2.15 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  7. Muse Spark 1.3 Meta

    2.0 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 1.5× cheaper per token.

    Score 54.8, $2 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  8. DeepSeek V4 Pro DeepSeek

    2.4 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 3.0× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 54.3, $0.99 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

More: Open-source, Cheaper, For coding

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Qwen?

The strongest alternative to Qwen as of October 2026 is GPT-6 Astra from OpenAI: 14.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

How were these alternatives chosen?

Each is the highest-ranked model from a different provider, compared on the Noometry Index against Qwen3.8 Max.