Alibaba vs 
Google
Verdict
- Google's flagship leads: Gemini 4 Argon at 70.7 vs Qwen3.8 Max at 63.3.
- Google has the better model in 3 of 4 price bands.
- Google's fastest ranked model (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, 430 tok/s) beats Alibaba's (Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct, 244 tok/s).
- Alibaba publishes more open-weights models (48 vs 17).
- Alibaba ships more often: one model every 7 days against every 15.
Best model per price band
Each provider’s highest-index model below the price ceiling. Purple marks the winner of the band.
| Price band | Alibaba | |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50/M | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 60.3$0.230/M | Gemma 4 26B A4B 56.2$0.198/M |
| Under $2/M | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 60.3$0.230/M | Gemini 3.8 Flash high 64.4$1.50/M |
| Under $10/M | Qwen3.8 Max max 63.3$3.00/M | Gemini 4 Argon high 70.7$4.00/M |
| Any price | Qwen3.8 Max max 63.3$3.00/M | Gemini 4 Argon high 70.7$4.00/M |
Line-up
| Metric | Alibaba | |
|---|---|---|
| Flagship index | 63.3 | 70.7 |
| Ranked models | 54 | 40 |
| Open-weights models | 48 | 17 |
| Cheapest ranked, $/M | $0.060 | $0.040 |
| Fastest ranked, tok/s | 244 | 430 |
| Release cadence, days | 7 | 15 |
| Last release | 17 Sept 2026 | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Next expected | 21 Sept 2026 – 26 Sept 2026 | 15 Oct 2026 – 27 Oct 2026 |