AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) Open vs Claude Haiku 5.5 Paid

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Claude Haiku 5.5 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Qwen3.8 Max (0902)OpenAlibaba
$2 /M input
$6 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostYes
Claude Haiku 5.5PaidAnthropic
$0.1 /M input
$0.5 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Qwen3.8 Max (0902) if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Claude Haiku 5.5 specs

SpecQwen3.8 Max (0902)Claude Haiku 5.5Winner
MakerAlibabaAnthropic–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryQwen3.8 Max (0902)
Context window1M tokens1M tokens= Tie
Input price$2/M · free self-host$0.1/MClaude Haiku 5.5
Output price$6/M · free self-host$0.5/MClaude Haiku 5.5
Vision / multimodalYesYes= Tie
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
LicenseApache 2.0ProprietaryQwen3.8 Max (0902)

Price gap & when to choose each

12×cheaper per output token

Claude Haiku 5.5 is ~12× cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) on output tokens ($0.5 vs $6 per M tokens).

Choose Qwen3.8 Max (0902) if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityQwen3.8 Max (0902)Claude Haiku 5.5
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✓✓
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✓

Benchmarks: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Claude Haiku 5.5

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Claude Haiku 5.5 delivers 14× more intelligence per dollar.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Claude Haiku 5.5
Intelligence index
45.4
43.4
Coding index
76.2
–
GPQA
92.8%
–
Humanity's Last Exam
43.1%
44.4%
Long Context Reasoning
80.3%
82.7%
SciCode
52.1%
55%
τ-Bench Banking
47.8%
–
Terminal-Bench
88.8%
–
Speed
37 tok/s
239.4 tok/s
Latency
1.9s
234.74s
Intelligence per $
15.1
217

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and Claude Haiku 5.5 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) (4.8 vs 3.5 / 5)
CriterionQwen3.8 Max (0902)Claude Haiku 5.5
Cost-efficiency4.05.0
Context window5.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.05.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) Open

Alibaba · Open-weight

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is an updated snapshot of Qwen3.8 Max from Alibaba's Qwen team. It is a 2.4-trillion-parameter mixture-of-experts model that accepts text, image, and video input and returns text,...

Claude Haiku 5.5 Paid

Anthropic · Proprietary

Claude Haiku 5.5 is Anthropic's small, fast model for high-volume, cost-sensitive work such as summarization, subagents, and browser use. It succeeds Claude Haiku 4.5 with stronger coding, computer use, and...

Other models in these families

These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.

Other variants tracked
Qwen3.8 2.4T A95BQwen3.8 27BQwen3.7 MaxQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.7 PlusQwen3.5-27BQwen3.6 27BQwen3.5-35B-A3BQwen3.5 397B A17BQwen3.6 35B A3BQwen3.5-122B-A10BQwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507Qwen3 Coder 480B A35BQwen3 Next 80B A3B ThinkingQwen3.5-9BQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 Next 80B A3B InstructQwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingQwen3 Coder NextQwen3 32BQwen3 14BQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 30B A3BQwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507Qwen3 VL 8B InstructQwen2.5 Coder 32B InstructQwen3.8 Max PrimeQwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15Qwen3.6 FlashQwen2.5 VL 72B InstructQwen3 Coder FlashQwen-PlusQwen3.8 FlashQwen3.8 Omni FlashQwen3.5-FlashQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen3.7 Flash
Other variants tracked
Claude Haiku 5.5 (batch)Claude Haiku 4.5Claude Haiku 4.5 (batch)

Frequently asked questions

Is Qwen3.8 Max (0902) as good as Claude Haiku 5.5?

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Claude Haiku 5.5 may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run Qwen3.8 Max (0902) locally?

Yes. Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Claude Haiku 5.5 is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Claude Haiku 5.5 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Qwen3.8 Max (0902) if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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