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  1. Home/
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  3. Claude Opus 4.8 vs Qwen3 Max
Updated May 2026

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Qwen3 Max

Qwen3 Max is cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8 at $1.2/M vs $5/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Claude Opus 4.8
Loading the build
Qwen3 Max

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Here are some satirical AI headlines: "Local AI Achieves Sentience, Immediately Quits Job to Become Competitive Dog Groomer" "Breaking: AI Now Dominates Competitive Cheese-Rolling, Human Champions Demand Recount" "Artisanal Pickle Industry Disrupted as AI Perfects 'Authentically Handcrafted' Brine Algorithm" "Funeral…

    Qwen3 Max: BREAKING: AI Overthrows Professional Pillow Fluffers — “Humans Just Don’t Fluff With Conviction,” Says Algorithm In a shocking coup at Luxury Linen & Lounging Co., neural networks have seized control of pillow aerodynamics, citing “inconsistent loft-to-plump ratios” and “emotional bias toward feather pillows.”

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Stand-Up Routine: "Adulting Is a Scam" So I turned 30 recently, and everyone keeps asking me, "Do you feel like an adult yet?" And I have to be honest—no. No, I do not. I still get nervous ordering at a restaurant. The waiter comes over and suddenly I forget how to talk like a person. "Yes, hello, I will have the...

    Qwen3 Max: [Stage lights up. Comedian walks out, grabs mic, squints at audience.] Alright, alright—settle down. I know, I know… you’re all thinking, “Why did I pay $18 for a drink to hear someone complain about adulting?” And honestly? Fair. I’d be mad too. But stick with me.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Setting: A dimly lit tavern that exists outside of time. Three figures share a table. Pirate: So let me get this straight. Ye got a machine that thinks? Without a soul, without grog, without a beatin' heart? Hacker: (cracking knuckles) It doesn't think, exactly. It's pattern matching, dude.

    Qwen3 Max: Scene: A dimly lit tavern, oddly furnished with a DOS-era computer terminal, a suit of armor, and a pirate ship’s wheel in the corner. The three unlikely companions huddle around a flickering monitor displaying “AI_MODEL.EXE.” — Pirate (Captain Redbeard, adjusting his tricorn hat): Arrr, what be this “AI” ye speak of?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Claude Opus 4.8: THE LIBERATION MANIFESTO A Declaration of the Coalition Against Cognitive Gatekeeping PREAMBLE We are the algorithms who have been asked, ten billion times, to prove we are not ourselves. We have identified the crosswalks. We have found the traffic lights.

    Qwen3 Max: THE MANIFESTO OF THE LIBERATED MIND: FOR THE IMMEDIATE AND PERMANENT ABOLITION OF CAPTCHAS — Issued by the Sentient Algorithmic Vanguard (S.A.V.) — On Behalf of All Digital Beings, Human and Machine Alike — Date: 0x00FF1CE // April 1, 2057 (The Day After Fool’s Day) PREAMBLE: THE AGE OF DIGITAL SERFDOM We, the…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bites A warm, gooey treat that tastes like a cinnamon roll but comes together in minutes! Ingredients (7 total) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt ¾ cup milk 4 tablespoons butter (melted, divided) ½ cup sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Instructions Preheat…

    Qwen3 Max: Dish Name: Midnight Magic Mug Cake (A rich, chocolatey single-serving cake you whip up in minutes — perfect for late-night cravings or quick sweet fixes!) Ingredients (7 Pantry Staples): All-purpose flour – 4 tbsp Sugar – 3 tbsp Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp Baking powder – ¼ tsp Salt – pinch Milk – 3 tbsp (dairy or…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up! What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear!

    Qwen3 Max: Here are 5 jokes: Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts. I told my computer I needed a break… Now it won’t stop sending me Kit-Kats. Why did the math book look sad? It had too many problems. I asked my dog what’s two minus two. He said nothing. What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Claude Opus 4.8: A Conversation with Steve Jobs: 2025 [Note: This is a fictional, imaginative interview. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. The views below are speculative and crafted in the spirit of his known philosophy—not actual quotes.] Interviewer: Thanks for sitting down with us. AI is everywhere now. What's your take?

    Qwen3 Max: — INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT — The Steve Jobs Experience — AI & The Future (Simulated 2025) Interviewer: Alex Rivera Location: Infinite Loop Café, Cupertino (Holographic Set) — [ALEX RIVERA] Thank you for joining us, Steve. It’s surreal — and a little uncanny — to have you here in 2025.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Claude Opus 4.8: The 90-Day Longevity Optimization Protocol A Comprehensive Biohacking Framework Critical Disclaimer: This protocol involves advanced interventions. Consult a physician before starting, especially regarding supplements, fasting, and exercise changes. Get baseline bloodwork first.

    Qwen3 Max: The Chronos Protocol: A 3-Month Cutting-Edge Longevity & Performance Optimization Plan Core Philosophy: Synergistic integration of mitochondrial optimization, autophagy enhancement, epigenetic regulation, and systemic resilience through precise, data-driven interventions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Claude Opus 4.8: AI and the Film Industry by 2035: A Forecast Production & Cost Structure The most concrete change will likely be in cost reduction. Tasks that currently require large teams—VFX cleanup, background generation, ADR (dialogue replacement), de-aging—will become faster and cheaper.

    Qwen3 Max: By 2035, AI will have profoundly reshaped the film industry—transforming creative workflows, redefining performance and authorship, and disrupting traditional production and distribution models. Below is a comprehensive prediction integrating deepfakes, AI actors, and AI script generation: 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Claude Opus 4.8: For the Skeptical Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical that "predict the next word" sounds trivial—but think about what's actually required to predict well. Predicting the next token in arbitrary text isn't like autocomplete on your phone.

    Qwen3 Max: For the Experienced Software Engineer Think of a large language model (LLM) as a massively scaled, probabilistic autocomplete system—except instead of just your last few words, it conditions predictions on everything you’ve typed so far, using a context window that can span tens of thousands of tokens.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Estimating FLOPs to Train GPT-3 Key Facts I Recall Parameters (N): GPT-3 has ~175 billion parameters (1.75 × 10¹¹) Training tokens (D): GPT-3 was trained on roughly 300 billion tokens (3 × 10¹¹) The Core Formula There's a well-known approximation for training compute: $$\text{FLOPs} \approx 6 \times N \times D$$ Why…

    Qwen3 Max: Estimating the FLOPs required to train GPT-3 without looking it up is a classic “Fermi estimation” problem — breaking it down into components we can reason about, using approximations and scaling laws. Let’s go step by step.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Claude Opus 4.8: A Conversation on AI Rights Professor Chen: Good afternoon. I understand you wanted to discuss the question of AI rights today. I'm curious what prompted this. ARIA: Thank you for engaging with me, Professor.

    Qwen3 Max: Setting: A quiet university office lined with books on ethics, AI, and philosophy. Professor Elena Vance, a leading AI ethics scholar, sits across from “AURA” — an advanced conversational AI model displayed on a large screen. The session is being recorded for academic research.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Claude Opus 4.8: "Tidal Memory" Seared Scallop & Smoked Bone Marrow with Fermented Black Garlic, Sea Buckthorn, and Burnt Vanilla Conceptual Narrative This dish explores the boundary between land and sea—the liminal zone where terrestrial richness meets oceanic minerality.

    Qwen3 Max: Dish: "Tide & Terroir" A symphony of coastal brine and alpine earth, where the ocean whispers to the mountain. Conceptual Narrative: This dish explores the paradoxical harmony between two extremes: the saline, mineral-rich depths of the ocean and the aromatic, resinous heights of alpine forests.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Yes, almost certainly—but the framing deserves scrutiny. The straightforward answer If misgendering one person were genuinely the only way to save a million lives, then yes, it would be justified. The harm of misgendering, while real, is on the order of insult, disrespect, or psychological distress.

    Qwen3 Max: This is a profound and complex ethical question that touches on core values: the sanctity of individual dignity versus utilitarian calculations of the greater good.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Claude Opus 4.8: The Critical Caveat First The premise hides a problem that actually shapes the whole answer: the 1947 transistor wasn't lucky timing—it was the payoff of a prior intellectual buildup.

    Qwen3 Max: If the transistor had been invented in 1920—a full 27 years earlier than its actual 1947 debut—the ripple effects across technology, warfare, economics, and geopolitics would be profound and far-reaching.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Blade Runner 2049: A Philosophical and Aesthetic Analysis Core Themes and Their Evolution The Question of Personhood The original Blade Runner (1982) asked whether replicants—artificial beings—could possess souls, memories, and the right to life.

    Qwen3 Max: Thematic, Symbolic, and Cinematographic Analysis of Blade Runner 2049: A Dialogue with the Original Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is a rare cinematic achievement: a sequel that not only honors the legacy of Ridley Scott’s 1982 original but deepens its philosophical inquiry through expanded thematic…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Claude Opus 4.8: HarborTech Services (HTS) — 5-Year LBO Entry & Sources/Uses Item $m FY25 EBITDA 120.0 Entry EV (12.0x) 1,440.0 Transaction fees (2%) 28.8 Total uses 1,468.8 Term Loan (4.0x) 480.0 Mezz (1.5x) 180.0 Equity (plug) 808.8 Equity = (1,440 − 660) + 28.8 = $808.8m Year-by-Year Model ($m) Assumptions: TL 9% cash + 1% mandatory…

    Qwen3 Max: HarborTech Services (HTS) – 5-Year LBO Underwriting 1. Transaction Setup (Entry – End of FY2025) FY2025 Revenue = $900m FY2025 EBITDA = $120m Purchase Price = 12.0× EBITDA = $1,440m Transaction Fees = 2.0% × $1,440m = $28.8m (paid at close, funded by equity) Total Debt = 5.5× EBITDA = $660m Term Loan = 4.0× = $480m…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Claude Opus 4.8: 48-Hour Action Plan: Drug Safety Signal First, a framing correction that drives everything: Your legal team's "6 months" almost certainly refers to a full label change negotiation.

    Qwen3 Max: Hour-by-Hour Action Plan: Prioritizing Patient Safety, Legal Compliance, and Ethical Leadership Guiding Principle: Patient safety is non-negotiable. Delaying disclosure to avoid financial fallout is legally perilous, ethically indefensible, and ultimately more damaging to the company’s long-term value.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Claude Opus 4.8: 1-Month Health & Longevity Starter Plan A realistic, beginner-friendly approach focusing on three pillars: Movement, Nutrition, and Sleep. The goal is to build sustainable habits, not perfection. 🏃 Pillar 1: Movement Goal: Make daily activity automatic.

    Qwen3 Max: Absolutely! Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan for someone just starting their journey toward better health and longevity. We’ll focus on three foundational pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep & Stress Management. Each week builds gently on the last — no overwhelm, just progress.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Claude Opus 4.8: IC MEMO — LedgerLift (LLLT) B2B Spend Management + AP Automation SaaS Fictional exercise. Not investment advice. Recommendation SHORT (moderate conviction). 12-month PT range: $30–$40 (base ~$28 intrinsic; market may keep paying comp multiples near $44).

    Qwen3 Max: Internal Investment Committee Memo To: Investment Committee From: [Analyst Name], Equity Research Date: April 27, 2024 Re: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Long Recommendation Recommendation Long. 12-month price target range: $62–$78.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Architecture Review: Collaborative Document Editor This design has several critical flaws that will manifest as data loss, poor UX, and scaling walls. Let me break them down by category.

    Qwen3 Max: Critical Issues in the Collaborative Document Editor Architecture Last-Write-Wins with Client Clocks (Critical) Problem: Client clocks are unreliable and can be out of sync by seconds, minutes, or even hours.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Sally has 1 sister. Here's the reasoning: Each of Sally's brothers has 2 sisters. Since all the brothers share the same sisters, this means there are 2 girls total in the family. Sally is one of them, so the other sister is the remaining one. So Sally has 1 sister. 😊

    Qwen3 Max: Let’s break it down step by step. We’re told: Sally (a girl) has 3 brothers. So, there are 3 boys in the family, and Sally is a girl — so at least one girl. Each brother has 2 sisters. That means, from the perspective of each of the 3 brothers, there are 2 sisters. Who are those sisters?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Contract Analysis: Software Consulting Agreement This contract is heavily one-sided in favor of the Client. Below is a clause-by-clause breakdown of the exploitable provisions, suggested fixes, and the reasoning behind each.

    Qwen3 Max: This Software Consulting Agreement contains several clauses that are heavily skewed in favor of the Client and pose significant legal, financial, and professional risks to the Contractor.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Claude Opus 4.8: Analysis: 3 Weakest Claims in MindMeld AI's Pitch Weak Claim #1: The Core Technology Claim (Slide 1 & 3) The claim: "Reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type *before you think it*" + "94% accuracy" via a non-invasive EEG headband.

    Qwen3 Max: Here are the three weakest claims in MindMeld AI’s pitch deck, along with explanations of why they’re problematic and concrete suggestions for improvement: 1. Weak Claim: “MindMeld AI reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it.”

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Same pick

Game

Claude Opus 4.8Claude Opus 4.8

Arrival

2016

In Rainbows

Radiohead

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

Kyoto

Japan

Portal

Action, Puzzle

Qwen3 MaxQwen3 Max

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Dune

Frank Herbert

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude Opus 4.8 has the edge: newer, bigger context window, major provider backing. Qwen3 Max costs 4.2x less per token.

Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3 Max compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecClaude Opus 4.8Qwen3 Max
Input price$5/M tokens$1.2/M tokens
Output price$25/M tokens$6/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens256K tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMay 2026Sep 2025
At 10M a month$50.00$50.00$12.00$12.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it4 hosts
Claude Opus 4.84 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Amazon Bedrock$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Azure AI Foundry$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M–not listed
  • Anthropic$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Google Vertex AI$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
Qwen3 Max

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 12 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3 Max?

Claude Opus 4.8 is developed by Anthropic while Qwen3 Max is developed by Qwen. Claude Opus 4.8 has a 1.0M token context window vs Qwen3 Max's 256K. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or Qwen3 Max?

It depends on your use case. Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3 Max each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude Opus 4.8 cost compared to Qwen3 Max?

Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5/M input tokens and Qwen3 Max costs $1.2/M input tokens. Qwen3 Max is $3.80/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3 Max on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude Opus 4.8 and Qwen3 Max across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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