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. Pick Qwen 3.7 Plus for reading screens and interacting with guis or generating code from visual references. On a tight budget at scale, Qwen 3.7 Plus is the value pick.
Fugu Max (Sakana AI) and Qwen 3.7 Plus (Alibaba) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. 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. Qwen 3.7 Plus is alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end. Their biggest split is price, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences
Price: Qwen 3.7 Plus is about 5× cheaper on input ($0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens vs $2/$6 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
Context window: both advertise 1M tokens (~1,500 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
Recency: Fugu Max is the newer model by about 3 months (released September 10, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Fugu Max
Qwen 3.7 Plus
Provider
Sakana AI (Global)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 10, 2026
June 1, 2026
Context window
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
$0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text
text, image, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%: Fugu Max — Qwen 3.7 Plus is comparatively weak here — outputs text only, no image, audio, or video generation
1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens: 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 is the newer of the two.
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; Qwen 3.7 Plus does not.
Reading screens and interacting with GUIs: Qwen 3.7 Plus — Alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end — and it runs cheaper at $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens.
Generating code from visual references: Qwen 3.7 Plus — Qwen 3.7 Plus lists generating code from visual references among its strengths; Fugu Max does not.
Agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration: Qwen 3.7 Plus — Qwen 3.7 Plus lists agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration among its strengths; Fugu Max does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Qwen 3.7 Plus — At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Qwen 3.7 Plus — At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Fugu Max, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
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 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is reading screens and interacting with guis: Qwen 3.7 Plus — That is its strongest area.
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 are real: 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.
Qwen 3.7 Plus: where it fits
Alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end. Released June 1, 2026 by Alibaba, it is built for reading screens and interacting with GUIs, generating code from visual references, agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration, and cost-effective vision-language processing at 1M context.
Its trade-offs: proprietary and API-only, with no downloadable weights, and outputs text only, no image, audio, or video generation. At $0.4 in / $1.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Fugu Max and Qwen 3.7 Plus overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Qwen 3.7 Plus costs less per token; and each leads in its own area — Fugu Max for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, Qwen 3.7 Plus for reading screens and interacting with guis. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fugu Max or Qwen 3.7 Plus 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, Fugu Max leans toward cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60% while Qwen 3.7 Plus leans toward reading screens and interacting with guis, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Fugu Max or Qwen 3.7 Plus?
Qwen 3.7 Plus is cheaper — $2/$6 per 1M tokens vs $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, roughly 5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 1M tokens (~1,500 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Fugu Max and Qwen 3.7 Plus together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Fugu Max, Qwen 3.7 Plus 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, Fugu Max or Qwen 3.7 Plus?
Fugu Max — released September 10, 2026, about 3 months after Qwen 3.7 Plus.
Fugu Max vs Qwen 3.7 Plus
Sakana AI · Global | Alibaba · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
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. Pick Qwen 3.7 Plus for reading screens and interacting with guis or generating code from visual references. On a tight budget at scale, Qwen 3.7 Plus is the value pick.
Fugu Max (Sakana AI) and Qwen 3.7 Plus (Alibaba) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. 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. Qwen 3.7 Plus is alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end. Their biggest split is price, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Qwen 3.7 Plus is about 5× cheaper on input ($0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens vs $2/$6 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
▸Context window: both advertise 1M tokens (~1,500 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
▸Recency: Fugu Max is the newer model by about 3 months (released September 10, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Fugu Max
Qwen 3.7 Plus
Provider
Sakana AI (Global)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 10, 2026
June 1, 2026
Context window
1M tokens (~1,500 pages)
1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
$0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text
text, image, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%
Fugu Max
Qwen 3.7 Plus is comparatively weak here — outputs text only, no image, audio, or video generation
1M-token context window at $2/$6 per million tokens
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 is the newer of the two.
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; Qwen 3.7 Plus does not.
Reading screens and interacting with GUIs
Qwen 3.7 Plus
Alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end — and it runs cheaper at $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens.
Generating code from visual references
Qwen 3.7 Plus
Qwen 3.7 Plus lists generating code from visual references among its strengths; Fugu Max does not.
Agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration
Qwen 3.7 Plus
Qwen 3.7 Plus lists agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration among its strengths; Fugu Max does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Qwen 3.7 Plus
At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Qwen 3.7 Plus
At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Fugu Max, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
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
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is reading screens and interacting with guis
→ Qwen 3.7 Plus
That is its strongest area.
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 are real: 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.
Qwen 3.7 Plus: where it fits
Alibaba's cost-effective multimodal agent in the Qwen3.7 series, built to perceive scenes, read screens and GUIs, generate code from visual references, and navigate mobile apps end-to-end. Released June 1, 2026 by Alibaba, it is built for reading screens and interacting with GUIs, generating code from visual references, agentic tool use, verification, and autonomous iteration, and cost-effective vision-language processing at 1M context.
Its trade-offs: proprietary and API-only, with no downloadable weights, and outputs text only, no image, audio, or video generation. At $0.4 in / $1.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Fugu Max and Qwen 3.7 Plus overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Qwen 3.7 Plus costs less per token; and each leads in its own area — Fugu Max for cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60%, Qwen 3.7 Plus for reading screens and interacting with guis. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Fugu Max and Qwen 3.7 Plus 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.
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, Fugu Max leans toward cost-efficient multi-agent orchestration — undercuts claude sonnet 5 and kimi k3 on output cost by a claimed 40-60% while Qwen 3.7 Plus leans toward reading screens and interacting with guis, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Fugu Max or Qwen 3.7 Plus?
Qwen 3.7 Plus is cheaper — $2/$6 per 1M tokens vs $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, roughly 5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 1M tokens (~1,500 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Fugu Max and Qwen 3.7 Plus together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Fugu Max, Qwen 3.7 Plus 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, Fugu Max or Qwen 3.7 Plus?
Fugu Max — released September 10, 2026, about 3 months after Qwen 3.7 Plus.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.