Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Qwen3.8 27B delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,398 vs 1,358), while DeepSeek R1 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (65.2%), while Qwen3.8 27B is more budget-friendly at $0.4/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Open-weights reasoning model trained with large-scale RL.
Alibaba open-weight 27B drop dated Aug 14 2026. Dense enough to self-host; not a frontier MoE.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Δ 40 Arena Elo pts
152 tok/s
$0.4 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 | Qwen3.8 27B | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +40 | ||
| Coding Elo | — | — | |
| LiveBench | +1.6% | ||
| SWE-bench | +6.4% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +6.4% | ||
| Time to first token | +280 ms | ||
| Output speed | 62 tok/s | 152 tok/s | +90 tok/s |
| Input price | $0.55/1M | +$0.45/1M | |
| Output price | $2.19/1M | +$1.79/1M | |
| Context window | +3k |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Qwen3.8 27B is estimated to save $42.60/month ($511/year).
Higher SWE-bench (65.2%).
Lower output list price ($0.4/1M).
Lower TTFT (140 ms).
Larger window (131k).
Qwen3.8 27B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | DeepSeek R1 | Higher SWE-bench (65.2%). |
| High-volume chat | Qwen3.8 27B | Lower output list price ($0.4/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Qwen3.8 27B | Lower TTFT (140 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Qwen3.8 27B | Larger window (131k). |
| Screenshots / vision | Qwen3.8 27B | Qwen3.8 27B is the side marked multimodal in the catalog. |
Alibaba open-weight 27B drop. Local/open-weight lists should see it. It will not win frontier-agents.
Jan 2025 reasoning model. Still searched. V4 Pro is the newer DeepSeek buy.
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