--- title: "Qwen 4 Max Preview: Specs, Benchmarks, Pricing, and How to Access It" slug: qwen-4-max-specs-benchmarks-pricing-how-to-access description: "Qwen4-Max-Preview went live on November 11 with a 1M-token context, text, image, and video input, and access through Alibaba's Token Plan from $3 a month. There are no benchmarks, per-token price, or open weights yet, and the preview ends November 25. Specs, how to get access, what it costs, and what Alibaba hasn't published." author: "Yotta Labs" date: 2026-11-12 categories: ["Inference"] canonical: https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-4-max-specs-benchmarks-pricing-how-to-access --- # Qwen 4 Max Preview: Specs, Benchmarks, Pricing, and How to Access It ![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/wy75wyma/production/004fdc2036854c288ee7c788eed6f7fdc692d837-2240x1260.png) *Alibaba's first Qwen 4 model is in preview for two weeks. Here's what it is, how to try it, and what Alibaba hasn't published yet.* Alibaba put the first Qwen 4 model in developers' hands on November 11, 2026. Qwen4-Max-Preview is the flagship of the four tiers Alibaba named at its Apsara conference in September, and it arrived with a launch post that opened "Qwen4 is coming." It has a model ID, a spec page, and a fixed two-week window. It does not have benchmark scores, a per-token price, or downloadable weights. This post covers what Alibaba has published about Qwen 4 Max, the ways to get access during the preview, what the Token Plan costs, where benchmarks stand, and how the preview compares with Qwen 3.8-Max, the Qwen flagship you can call on a regular API today. We will update it when the general release arrives. ## The short version - **Status:** in preview since November 11, 2026, as qwen4-max-preview. The preview ends November 25, and Alibaba says the preview model is retired after that. - **Specs:** 1M-token context, up to 393,216 output tokens shared between thinking and the answer, text, image, and video input, thinking on by default. - **Access:** Alibaba's Token Plan subscription, plus early access in QwenWork, Qoder, the Qwen app, and QwenStudio. It is also listed in the Qwen Chat model picker. - **Price:** no per-token price. Token Plan starts at $3 a month for new users during the launch event, and usage draws down monthly Credits. - **Benchmarks:** none published by Alibaba, and no independent lab results that we could find as of November 12. - **Not announced:** parameter count, open weights, a general release date, and anything new on Qwen 4 Plus, Flash, or the 27B. ## Qwen 4 Max specs From Alibaba's model page for Qwen4-Max-Preview. Alibaba's docs describe it as the next flagship multimodal model in the Qwen family, built for coding, office productivity, front-end design, and complex agent tasks. The launch post makes the same pitch in plainer terms: deeper knowledge, stronger coding, and better performance in agent workflows and professional software. The window is specific. The preview runs from 10:00 on November 11 to 24:00 on November 25, Beijing time, which is 9:00 pm Eastern on November 10 to 11:00 am Eastern on November 25. Alibaba says it will make no changes to the model during that period and will retire it when the period ends. Anything you build against qwen4-max-preview needs a new model string by November 25. ## How to get access There are three routes during the preview. **Token Plan.** This is the developer route. Token Plan is Alibaba's credit-based subscription on QwenCloud: you subscribe, get a dedicated API key and base URL, and set the model ID to qwen4-max-preview in a supported tool. The plan page lists Qwen Code, Cline, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Codex, Kilo CLI, and OpenClaw. Pay-as-you-go API access is not supported for the preview model. These are launch-event prices. The page shows list prices of $8, $16, $25, and $51 a month alongside them and says the Lite and Essential discounts are for new users. In the plan's model list, qwen4-max-preview carries a limited-time 80% off tag, so preview usage draws down Credits at a reduced rate. **Alibaba's own apps.** The launch post names early access in QwenWork, Qoder, the Qwen app, and QwenStudio. **Qwen Chat.** As of November 12, the model picker at chat.qwen.ai lists Qwen4-Max-Preview, described as a preview of the flagship Qwen4 model. Alibaba hasn't published usage limits for it there. ## Qwen 4 Max benchmarks: what exists so far None that you can cite. Alibaba's launch post and model docs contain no benchmark numbers, and as of November 12 we could not find measured results from an independent lab either. That matters because numbers are already circulating. Scores posted on X and Reddit don't trace to Alibaba or to a published leaderboard entry, so treat them as unverified. The same goes for the two anonymous models people have linked to Qwen 4, Kalmia on Arena and Qoduck in Qoder: Alibaba has not confirmed either one as Qwen4-Max. What you can do is measure it yourself, which is what a two-week preview is for. Take 20 to 50 prompts from your own product, run them through qwen4-max-preview and through the model you use now, and compare the outputs and the token counts. That tells you more about your workload than a leaderboard will, and it is the only evidence available until Alibaba or an independent lab publishes results. We will add verified numbers here when they exist. For the previous generation, our [Qwen 3.8 benchmarks](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-3-8-benchmarks-what-is-verified-2026) post separates the verified scores from the rest. ## Qwen 4 Max pricing There is no per-token price yet. During the preview the only paid route is the Token Plan subscription above, where requests draw down monthly Credits instead of being billed by the token. For a reference point, Qwen 3.8-Max is $2.00 per million input tokens and $6.00 per million output on Alibaba Cloud's international region, and $1.50 and $4.50 on Yotta AI Gateway. Alibaba has not said whether Qwen 4 Max will land near those rates. One budgeting detail does carry over to any future price: thinking counts against the output limit. On qwen4-max-preview the output ceiling of 393,216 tokens is shared between the model's reasoning and its final answer, and thinking is on at the highest effort level by default. Long reasoning traces are billed as output on most APIs, so the effort setting is the first cost control to learn. ## Qwen 4 Max preview vs Qwen 3.8-Max Qwen 3.8-Max is the Qwen flagship in general availability, and it is what most teams will keep calling while the preview runs. The practical read: the preview is for evaluation, and 3.8-Max is for production. The [Qwen 3.8-Max](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-3-8-max-release-date-specs-how-to-access-2026) post has the full specs for the current model. ## What changes in the API Three behaviors are different from earlier Qwen models, and they will trip up existing code if you swap the model string and nothing else. - **The output limit now includes thinking.** Starting with qwen4-max-preview, max_tokens means the same thing as max_completion_tokens: the combined budget for reasoning and the final answer. A limit that was sized for the answer alone can cut the response short. Earlier Qwen models keep their old behavior. - **Thinking is on by default at the highest level.** The reasoning_effort setting takes low, medium, or xhigh, and xhigh is the default. Alibaba's docs say not to set reasoning_effort and thinking_budget together. - **Multi-turn calls keep the reasoning.** Chat Completions preserves thinking across turns by default. Earlier reasoning goes back in the reasoning_content field of the assistant messages, not merged into the content. The rest is familiar. The model works with the OpenAI Chat Completions and Responses formats and the Anthropic Messages format, so an existing client connects with a base URL, a key, and the model string. ## What to do during the preview The window is short and the model string expires, so use it to answer one question: is Qwen 4 Max better on your workload than what you run today? Set up the comparison before you spend Credits. Pull a fixed set of prompts from your product, run them on your current model, and save the outputs and token counts as a baseline. If Qwen 3.8-Max is that baseline, it is on [Yotta AI Gateway](https://www.yottalabs.ai/ai-gateway) behind the same OpenAI-compatible key as DeepSeek V4 Pro, GLM 5.3, and Kimi K3, so the baseline run and the competitor runs are a model-string change in one client. The [best Chinese LLMs](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/best-chinese-llm-models-2026-deepseek-qwen-glm-kimi-compared) roundup covers how those models split up by job. Then keep the model ID in config, not in code. The preview ID goes away on November 25, and whatever replaces it will be a different string. For the rest of the family, the [Qwen 4 release date tracker](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-4-release-date-what-is-known-how-to-prepare-2026) has the day-by-day timeline, the [four tiers](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-4-max-vs-plus-vs-flash-vs-27b-tiers-2026) post explains Max, Plus, Flash, and 27B, and the [Qwen 4 27B](https://www.yottalabs.ai/post/qwen-4-27b-release-date-specs-hardware-what-is-known-2026) post covers the open-weights tier. ## Frequently asked questions **What is Qwen 4 Max?** The flagship tier of Alibaba's Qwen 4 family. It is available now as Qwen4-Max-Preview, a multimodal reasoning model with a 1M-token context that Alibaba describes as built for coding, office work, front-end design, and agent tasks. **Is Qwen 4 Max out?** In preview, yes. Qwen4-Max-Preview has been available since November 11, 2026. The general release has no announced date. **How do I access Qwen4-Max-Preview?** Subscribe to Alibaba's Token Plan and set the model ID to qwen4-max-preview in a supported coding tool, or use the early access in QwenWork, Qoder, the Qwen app, or QwenStudio. It is also listed in the Qwen Chat model picker. **How much does Qwen 4 Max cost?** There is no per-token price. The Token Plan that includes the preview starts at $3 a month for new users during the launch event, with Standard at $18 and Pro at $43, and usage draws down monthly Credits. **Are there Qwen 4 Max benchmarks?** Not yet. Alibaba published none with the preview, and we found no independent lab results as of November 12. Scores circulating on social media are unverified. **What is the Qwen 4 Max context window?** 1M tokens, with up to 393,216 output tokens shared between thinking and the final answer. **How big is Qwen 4 Max?** Alibaba has not published a parameter count. Qwen 3.8-Max is 2.4 trillion parameters with about 95B active, but any Qwen 4 Max size you see quoted is a guess until Alibaba publishes one. **Does Qwen 4 Max have open weights?** No. Nothing has been released for the preview, and Alibaba has not said whether the Max tier will get open weights. The 27B is the tier Alibaba has described as open weights. **When does the Qwen4-Max preview end?** At 24:00 Beijing time on November 25, 2026, which is 11:00 am Eastern that day. Alibaba says the preview model is retired after that. **What is the Qwen Token Plan?** Alibaba's credit-based subscription on QwenCloud. One monthly plan covers a list of Qwen and third-party models, and requests draw down Credits instead of being billed per token. It is built for use inside coding and agent tools. **Is Qwen 4 Max on Yotta?** During the preview, Alibaba is offering Qwen4-Max only through its own Token Plan and apps. Qwen 3.8-Max is live on Yotta AI Gateway at $1.50 per million input tokens and $4.50 per million output, and this post will be updated when Qwen 4 Max reaches general release. **When do Qwen 4 Plus, Flash, and 27B come out?** No dates. Alibaba named all four tiers in September and has only released Max, in preview. ## Bottom line Qwen 4 Max is real and usable, with a 1M-token context, video input, and reasoning on by default, but it is a two-week preview behind a subscription, with no benchmarks, no per-token price, and no weights. Treat it as an evaluation window. Run your own prompts through it before November 25, compare against the model you call today, and keep the model string in config. Qwen 3.8-Max and the other open flagships are on [Yotta AI Gateway](https://www.yottalabs.ai/ai-gateway) for the baseline, and we will update this post with benchmarks and pricing when Alibaba publishes them.