Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 Max: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Laguna S 2.1 is developed by Poolside, while Qwen3.8 Max comes from Alibaba. Laguna S 2.1 was released in July 2026, and Qwen3.8 Max followed a month later in August 2026. Qwen3.8 Max is the larger model at roughly 2.4 trillion parameters, against 118 billion for Laguna S 2.1.
We have 6 benchmark results for Laguna S 2.1 and 2 benchmark results for Qwen3.8 Max, but they were measured on different benchmarks, so there is no like-for-like scoreboard.
Laguna S 2.1 is the cheaper API at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens, roughly 25 times cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max at $2.50 and $6.25. Both accept a context window of about 1M tokens. Laguna S 2.1 accepts text as input, while Qwen3.8 Max accepts text and images. On tooling, only Qwen3.8 Max supports function calling and only Qwen3.8 Max offers structured output.
| Characteristic | Laguna S 2.1 | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Poolside | Alibaba |
| Release Date | July 21, 2026 | August 2, 2026 |
| Parameters | 118B | 2.4T |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 1.0M |
| Context (output) | — | 131K |
| Input Price / 1M | $0.10 | $2.50 |
| Output Price / 1M | $0.20 | $6.25 |
| Average Score | 57.4% | 93.0% |
Verdict
Laguna S 2.1 leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Laguna S 2.1 — 0.6, Qwen3.8 Max — 0.9.
Laguna S 2.1 is 29.2x cheaper: input $0.10/1M vs $2.50/1M tokens.
Laguna S 2.1 supports a larger context: 1M vs 1M tokens.
Both models were released around the same time: 7/21/2026 and 8/2/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 Max?
Which model is cheaper — Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 Max?
Which has a larger context window — Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 Max?
The Laguna S 2.1 and Qwen3.8 Max comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 Max page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.