Pick Atria Dawn Preview for best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0) or 744b-parameter moe built on a glm-5.2 base, released under a fully open mit license. Pick Fugu Max for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60% or 1m-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens. Choose Atria Dawn Preview if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Fugu Max if you want a managed API.
Atria Dawn Preview (Shanghai AI Laboratory) and Fugu Max (Sakana AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Atria Dawn Preview is a free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper. Fugu Max is sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Cost model: Atria Dawn Preview ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Fugu Max is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
Context window: Fugu Max holds 3.8× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 256K tokens (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Specifications
Spec
Atria Dawn Preview
Fugu Max
Provider
Shanghai AI Laboratory (China)
Sakana AI (Global)
Released
September 11, 2026
September 10, 2026
Context window
256K tokens (~393 pages)
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Best-in-class among tested models on several of Shanghai AI Lab's own benchmarks, including BrowseComp (92.5, ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol's 92.2) and DeepSearchQA (96.0): Atria Dawn Preview — Fugu Max is comparatively weak here — not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that routes tasks across a pool of other models, so raw benchmark comparisons to monolithic models can be misleading
744B-parameter MoE built on a GLM-5.2 base, released under a fully open MIT license: Atria Dawn Preview — Open weights make this possible at all — Fugu Max is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Free to self-host — no API pricing, run entirely on your own hardware: Atria Dawn Preview — A free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper — and its weights are open while Fugu Max is API-only.
Cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%: Fugu Max — Sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens: Fugu Max — Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.8× more than Atria Dawn Preview's 256K tokens in a single prompt.
OpenAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations: Fugu Max — Fugu Max lists openAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations among its strengths; Atria Dawn Preview does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Atria Dawn Preview — Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Fugu Max's $2/$6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input: Fugu Max — Its 1M tokens window is about 3.8× larger than Atria Dawn Preview's 256K tokens, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Atria Dawn Preview — At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Fugu Max, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Fugu Max — Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: Atria Dawn Preview — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Fugu Max is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0): Atria Dawn Preview — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%: Fugu Max — That is its strongest area.
Atria Dawn Preview: where it fits
A free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper. Released September 11, 2026 by Shanghai AI Laboratory, it is built for best-in-class among tested models on several of Shanghai AI Lab's own benchmarks, including BrowseComp (92.5, ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol's 92.2) and DeepSearchQA (96.0), 744B-parameter MoE built on a GLM-5.2 base, released under a fully open MIT license, and free to self-host — no API pricing, run entirely on your own hardware.
Its trade-offs are real: context window is reported inconsistently across trackers — most list 256K tokens, at least one lists 1M; unconfirmed which is accurate, released quietly, with weights and an API posted to GitHub before Shanghai AI Lab's own technical report went up on arXiv days later, and a lab research preview rather than a commercial product — support and update cadence are unclear. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Fugu Max: where it fits
Sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens. Released September 10, 2026 by Sakana AI, it is built for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, 1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens, and openAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations.
Its trade-offs: not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that routes tasks across a pool of other models, so raw benchmark comparisons to monolithic models can be misleading, the cheaper sibling to Fugu Ultra v2 — lower ceiling on the hardest reasoning tasks, and a young, first-generation product from Sakana AI's orchestration approach, unproven at scale versus established frontier labs. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Atria Dawn Preview gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Fugu Max gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Atria Dawn Preview leans toward best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0) while Fugu Max leans toward cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max?
Atria Dawn Preview is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Fugu Max is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Fugu Max — 1M tokens vs 256K tokens, about 3.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Atria Dawn Preview and Fugu Max together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Atria Dawn Preview, Fugu Max and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max?
Atria Dawn Preview — released September 11, 2026, about 1 days after Fugu Max.
Atria Dawn Preview vs Fugu Max
Shanghai AI Laboratory · China | Sakana AI · Global · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Atria Dawn Preview for best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0) or 744b-parameter moe built on a glm-5.2 base, released under a fully open mit license. Pick Fugu Max for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60% or 1m-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens. Choose Atria Dawn Preview if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Fugu Max if you want a managed API.
Atria Dawn Preview (Shanghai AI Laboratory) and Fugu Max (Sakana AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Atria Dawn Preview is a free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper. Fugu Max is sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Cost model: Atria Dawn Preview ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Fugu Max is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
▸Context window: Fugu Max holds 3.8× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 256K tokens (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Atria Dawn Preview
Fugu Max
Provider
Shanghai AI Laboratory (China)
Sakana AI (Global)
Released
September 11, 2026
September 10, 2026
Context window
256K tokens (~393 pages)
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Best-in-class among tested models on several of Shanghai AI Lab's own benchmarks, including BrowseComp (92.5, ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol's 92.2) and DeepSearchQA (96.0)
Atria Dawn Preview
Fugu Max is comparatively weak here — not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that routes tasks across a pool of other models, so raw benchmark comparisons to monolithic models can be misleading
744B-parameter MoE built on a GLM-5.2 base, released under a fully open MIT license
Atria Dawn Preview
Open weights make this possible at all — Fugu Max is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Free to self-host — no API pricing, run entirely on your own hardware
Atria Dawn Preview
A free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper — and its weights are open while Fugu Max is API-only.
Cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%
Fugu Max
Sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens
Fugu Max
Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.8× more than Atria Dawn Preview's 256K tokens in a single prompt.
OpenAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations
Fugu Max
Fugu Max lists openAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations among its strengths; Atria Dawn Preview does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Atria Dawn Preview
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Fugu Max's $2/$6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
Fugu Max
Its 1M tokens window is about 3.8× larger than Atria Dawn Preview's 256K tokens, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Atria Dawn Preview
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Fugu Max, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Fugu Max
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Atria Dawn Preview
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Fugu Max is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0)
→ Atria Dawn Preview
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%
→ Fugu Max
That is its strongest area.
Atria Dawn Preview: where it fits
A free, MIT-licensed 744B open-weight model from Shanghai AI Lab that beat GPT-5.6 Sol on the BrowseComp benchmark — released quietly, weights before paper. Released September 11, 2026 by Shanghai AI Laboratory, it is built for best-in-class among tested models on several of Shanghai AI Lab's own benchmarks, including BrowseComp (92.5, ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol's 92.2) and DeepSearchQA (96.0), 744B-parameter MoE built on a GLM-5.2 base, released under a fully open MIT license, and free to self-host — no API pricing, run entirely on your own hardware.
Its trade-offs are real: context window is reported inconsistently across trackers — most list 256K tokens, at least one lists 1M; unconfirmed which is accurate, released quietly, with weights and an API posted to GitHub before Shanghai AI Lab's own technical report went up on arXiv days later, and a lab research preview rather than a commercial product — support and update cadence are unclear. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Fugu Max: where it fits
Sakana AI's cost-first multi-agent orchestration model — not a single trained model, but a routed pool of models behind one API, priced at $2/$6 per million tokens. Released September 10, 2026 by Sakana AI, it is built for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, 1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens, and openAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for single-model integrations.
Its trade-offs: not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that routes tasks across a pool of other models, so raw benchmark comparisons to monolithic models can be misleading, the cheaper sibling to Fugu Ultra v2 — lower ceiling on the hardest reasoning tasks, and a young, first-generation product from Sakana AI's orchestration approach, unproven at scale versus established frontier labs. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Atria Dawn Preview gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Fugu Max gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both Atria Dawn Preview and Fugu Max without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Atria Dawn Preview leans toward best-in-class among tested models on several of shanghai ai lab's own benchmarks, including browsecomp (92.5, ahead of gpt-5.6 sol's 92.2) and deepsearchqa (96.0) while Fugu Max leans toward cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max?
Atria Dawn Preview is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Fugu Max is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Fugu Max — 1M tokens vs 256K tokens, about 3.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Atria Dawn Preview and Fugu Max together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Atria Dawn Preview, Fugu Max and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Atria Dawn Preview or Fugu Max?
Atria Dawn Preview — released September 11, 2026, about 1 days after Fugu Max.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.