Qwen3.8 27B API Pricing
Alibaba (Qwen) · context window 1M · prices updated 2026-09-29
Where Qwen3.8 27B sits on price
At $4.40 per million output tokens, Qwen3.8 27B is a mid tier model — 2.0× the median output price of $2.20, which puts it cheaper than 37% and pricier than 63% of the models we track. It sits 48th cheapest of the 53 Alibaba (Qwen) models we track. Output costs 102.8× more than input here, so anything that makes the model write less — tighter instructions, structured output, lower max_tokens — moves the bill more than trimming the prompt.
Cached input is 20% cheaper. On an input-heavy workload you need roughly a 100% cache-hit rate to take 25% off the input line — reachable for chatbots and agents that resend the same system prompt and history.
What real workloads cost on Qwen3.8 27B
These three workloads are the ones teams actually run on a mid-priced model — a $4.40/1M model is not bought for the same job as one ten times the price.
| Workload | Per request | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win. | $0.0064 | $95.61 |
| Document pipeline — 10K docs/day (3K in / 500 out) Batch-friendly: no user waiting, so a ~50% batch discount usually applies. | $0.0023 | $699 |
| Long-context analysis — 200 runs/day (250K in / 4K out) Only possible on large-context models; input cost is nearly the whole bill. | $0.0283 | $170 |
Model your exact traffic in the API cost calculator — it preloads Qwen3.8 27B with caching and batch options.
Qwen3.8 27B price history
Alibaba (Qwen) last raised Qwen3.8 27B's output price on Sep 29, 2026 (+47% per output token), from $0.42/$3.00 to $0.0428/$4.40 per 1M in/out. That is one of 8 repricings in the 45 days we have tracked it — worth knowing before you hard-code today's rate into a budget.
| Date | Input /1M | Output /1M | Output change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 2026 (tracking began) | $0.45 | $3.20 | — |
| Aug 23, 2026 | $0.4 | $3.00 | -6% |
| Aug 25, 2026 | $0.425 | $2.55 | -15% |
| Sep 4, 2026 | $0.42 | $3.00 | +18% |
| Sep 12, 2026 | $0.214 | $2.55 | -15% |
| Sep 20, 2026 | $0.42 | $3.00 | +18% |
| Sep 21, 2026 | $0.2 | $2.50 | -17% |
| Sep 22, 2026 | $0.42 | $3.00 | +20% |
| Sep 29, 2026 | $0.0428 | $4.40 | +47% |
Change-points from our daily price snapshots (tracking since Aug 15, 2026; intraday moves between snapshots are not captured).
Qwen3.8 27B vs o4 Mini High
The closest-priced alternative from another vendor is o4 Mini High (OpenAI) — priced within a rounding error on output, with $1.06 more per million input tokens. When two models land this close on price, the decision is quality on your own workload, not the price sheet: run 50 real requests through both and compare.
See o4 Mini High pricing →Cheaper alternatives
More Alibaba (Qwen) models
Frequently asked questions
› How much does the Qwen3.8 27B API cost?
Qwen3.8 27B costs $0.0428 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.0342 per million (20% cheaper). That works out to roughly 227,273 output tokens per dollar.
› What does the support chatbot workload cost on Qwen3.8 27B?
Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) costs about $0.0064 per request and $95.61 per month on Qwen3.8 27B. Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win.
› What does it cost to fill Qwen3.8 27B's 1M context window?
Sending 1M of input in a single request costs $0.0428 at $0.0428 per million tokens — before any output. With prompt caching that same fill drops to about $0.0342 on repeat requests. This is why large context windows are cheap to advertise and expensive to actually use.
› Is Qwen3.8 27B worth the price?
Qwen3.8 27B sits in the middle of the market (48 of 53 by price within Alibaba (Qwen)). The honest test is a routing experiment: send the same 200 real requests to this model and to a tier below, and compare failure rate against the price gap — most teams find a majority of traffic never needed the pricier model.