Pick Grok 4.7 for 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price or deepswe v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from grok 4.6's 65.2%; cursorbench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%. Pick Qwen 3.8-Max for near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58 or large 1m-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video).
Grok 4.7 (xAI, US) and Qwen 3.8-Max (Alibaba, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Grok 4.7 is xAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks. Qwen 3.8-Max is alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped. Their biggest split is context window, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences
Context window: Qwen 3.8-Max holds 2.1× more — 1M (~1,573 pages) vs 500K tokens (~750 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: Grok 4.7 is the newer model by about 49 days (released September 21, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Specifications
Spec
Grok 4.7
Qwen 3.8-Max
Provider
xAI (US)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 21, 2026
August 3, 2026
Context window
500K tokens (~750 pages)
1M (~1,573 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from Grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price: Grok 4.7 — XAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks — and it is the newer of the two.
DeepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%: Grok 4.7 — Grok 4.7 lists deepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4% among its strengths; Qwen 3.8-Max does not.
Trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems: Grok 4.7 — Grok 4.7 lists trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems among its strengths; Qwen 3.8-Max does not.
Near-frontier quality at value pricing — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 58: Qwen 3.8-Max — Grok 4.7 is comparatively weak here — reviewers note it arrives "late to the AI frontier party" against GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, all shipped in the weeks just before it
Large 1M-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video): Qwen 3.8-Max — Its 1M window holds about 2.1× more than Grok 4.7's 500K tokens in a single prompt.
Mixture-of-experts design: ~2.4T total parameters (Alibaba-reported), a fraction active per token: Qwen 3.8-Max — Alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped — and it carries the larger 1M context.
Largest single-prompt input: Qwen 3.8-Max — Its 1M window is about 2.1× larger than Grok 4.7's 500K tokens, fitting roughly 1,573 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Qwen 3.8-Max — Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price: Grok 4.7 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58: Qwen 3.8-Max — That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules: Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max — Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Grok 4.7: where it fits
XAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks. Released September 21, 2026 by xAI, it is built for 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from Grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price, deepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%, trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems, and xAI's strongest safety guardrails to date, per the company.
Its trade-offs are real: release was delayed at least five times since late July 2026 before shipping, 500K context window trails several rivals now sitting at 1M+, and reviewers note it arrives "late to the AI frontier party" against GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, all shipped in the weeks just before it. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
Qwen 3.8-Max: where it fits
Alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped. Released August 3, 2026 by Alibaba, it is built for near-frontier quality at value pricing — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 58, large 1M-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video), mixture-of-experts design: ~2.4T total parameters (Alibaba-reported), a fraction active per token, and $2/$6 per million tokens — far below US flagships like Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.
Its trade-offs: open weights were announced for release but had not shipped as of mid-August 2026 — a closed API for now, active-parameter count is not officially disclosed by Alibaba, flashier coding/agentic benchmarks (e.g. Terminal-Bench 86.6) are Alibaba's own, not independently reproduced, and trails the very top models (Opus 5, Fable 5, GPT-5.6 Sol) on independent tests. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Grok 4.7 (US) and Qwen 3.8-Max (China) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-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, Grok 4.7 leans toward 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price while Qwen 3.8-Max leans toward near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max?
They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen 3.8-Max — 1M vs 500K tokens, about 2.1× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok 4.7 and Qwen 3.8-Max together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok 4.7, Qwen 3.8-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, Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max?
Grok 4.7 — released September 21, 2026, about 49 days after Qwen 3.8-Max.
Grok 4.7 vs Qwen 3.8-Max
xAI · US | Alibaba · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Grok 4.7 for 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price or deepswe v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from grok 4.6's 65.2%; cursorbench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%. Pick Qwen 3.8-Max for near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58 or large 1m-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video).
Grok 4.7 (xAI, US) and Qwen 3.8-Max (Alibaba, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Grok 4.7 is xAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks. Qwen 3.8-Max is alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped. Their biggest split is context window, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences at a glance
▸Context window: Qwen 3.8-Max holds 2.1× more — 1M (~1,573 pages) vs 500K tokens (~750 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: Grok 4.7 is the newer model by about 49 days (released September 21, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Grok 4.7
Qwen 3.8-Max
Provider
xAI (US)
Alibaba (China)
Released
September 21, 2026
August 3, 2026
Context window
500K tokens (~750 pages)
1M (~1,573 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from Grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price
Grok 4.7
XAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks — and it is the newer of the two.
DeepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%
Grok 4.7
Grok 4.7 lists deepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4% among its strengths; Qwen 3.8-Max does not.
Trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems
Grok 4.7
Grok 4.7 lists trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems among its strengths; Qwen 3.8-Max does not.
Near-frontier quality at value pricing — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 58
Qwen 3.8-Max
Grok 4.7 is comparatively weak here — reviewers note it arrives "late to the AI frontier party" against GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, all shipped in the weeks just before it
Large 1M-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video)
Qwen 3.8-Max
Its 1M window holds about 2.1× more than Grok 4.7's 500K tokens in a single prompt.
Mixture-of-experts design: ~2.4T total parameters (Alibaba-reported), a fraction active per token
Qwen 3.8-Max
Alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped — and it carries the larger 1M context.
Largest single-prompt input
Qwen 3.8-Max
Its 1M window is about 2.1× larger than Grok 4.7's 500K tokens, fitting roughly 1,573 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Qwen 3.8-Max
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price
→ Grok 4.7
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58
→ Qwen 3.8-Max
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Grok 4.7: where it fits
XAI's September 21, 2026 update — a 2.1T-parameter model trained partly on SpaceX hardware data, same price as Grok 4.6 but stronger on coding benchmarks. Released September 21, 2026 by xAI, it is built for 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from Grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price, deepSWE v1.1 (high effort): 71.0%, up from Grok 4.6's 65.2%; CursorBench 4.0: 46.3%, up from 40.4%, trained with supplemental SpaceX data (Starlink telemetry, manufacturing records, engineering failure logs) — xAI says this improves reasoning about hardware and physical systems, and xAI's strongest safety guardrails to date, per the company.
Its trade-offs are real: release was delayed at least five times since late July 2026 before shipping, 500K context window trails several rivals now sitting at 1M+, and reviewers note it arrives "late to the AI frontier party" against GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, all shipped in the weeks just before it. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
Qwen 3.8-Max: where it fits
Alibaba's flagship mixture-of-experts model — near-frontier on independent tests (AA Index 58) at a fraction of US-flagship pricing, with open weights promised but not yet shipped. Released August 3, 2026 by Alibaba, it is built for near-frontier quality at value pricing — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 58, large 1M-token context with multimodal input (text, image, video), mixture-of-experts design: ~2.4T total parameters (Alibaba-reported), a fraction active per token, and $2/$6 per million tokens — far below US flagships like Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.
Its trade-offs: open weights were announced for release but had not shipped as of mid-August 2026 — a closed API for now, active-parameter count is not officially disclosed by Alibaba, flashier coding/agentic benchmarks (e.g. Terminal-Bench 86.6) are Alibaba's own, not independently reproduced, and trails the very top models (Opus 5, Fable 5, GPT-5.6 Sol) on independent tests. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Grok 4.7 (US) and Qwen 3.8-Max (China) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both Grok 4.7 and Qwen 3.8-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.
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, Grok 4.7 leans toward 2.1 trillion parameters, up 40% from grok 4.6's 1.5 trillion, at the same $2/$6 per million token price while Qwen 3.8-Max leans toward near-frontier quality at value pricing — artificial analysis intelligence index 58, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max?
They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen 3.8-Max — 1M vs 500K tokens, about 2.1× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok 4.7 and Qwen 3.8-Max together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok 4.7, Qwen 3.8-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, Grok 4.7 or Qwen 3.8-Max?
Grok 4.7 — released September 21, 2026, about 49 days after Qwen 3.8-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.