Noometry

Alternatives

Best Qwen Alternatives for Coding in October 2026

The strongest alternative to Qwen for coding as of October 2026 is Claude Fable 5.1 from Anthropic: 21.2 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

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  1. Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic

    21.2 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier.

    Score 74.7, $20 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  2. GPT-6 Astra OpenAI

    20.2 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier.

    Score 73.7, $20 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  3. Gemini 4 Argon Google

    8.5 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max.

    Score 62.0, no API price.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  4. Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

    7.5 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× pricier; open weights.

    Score 61.0, $6 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  5. GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

    6.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 1.4× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 59.5, $2.15 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  6. Grok 4.6 xAI

    5.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, same price.

    Score 58.5, $3 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  7. Muse Spark 1.3 Meta

    3.1 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 1.5× cheaper per token.

    Score 56.6, $2 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  8. MiMo-V2.6-Pro Xiaomi

    2.0 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 5.5× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 55.5, $0.54 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

More: All alternatives, Open-source, Cheaper

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Qwen for coding?

The strongest alternative to Qwen for coding as of October 2026 is Claude Fable 5.1 from Anthropic: 21.2 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 6.7× pricier. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

How were these alternatives chosen?

Each is the highest-ranked model from a different provider, compared on the Noometry coding score against Qwen3.8 Max.