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Head-to-head comparison

Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 27B

Laguna S 2.1 (Poolside) and Qwen3.8 27B (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 10 September 2026

As of 10 September 2026, Qwen3.8 27B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#37 vs #39); Laguna S 2.1 is 16.7× cheaper per output token ($0.18/1M vs $3.00/1M); and Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Laguna S 2.1 if…

  • API cost matters — $0.18/1M output tokens against $3.00/1M, about 16.7× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.09/1M against $0.42/1M.

Choose Qwen3.8 27B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #37 against #39 (65.2 vs 64.4 points).
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights while Laguna S 2.1 is restricted license.
  • you want provider choice — 13 listed API providers against 1.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.8 27B was listed 14 August 2026, Laguna S 2.1 21 July 2026.

Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 27B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Laguna S 2.1 and Qwen3.8 27B
FieldLaguna S 2.1PoolsideQwen3.8 27BQwen
ModelCap Index position#39#37
Index score64.465.2
EvidenceEstimatedMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.09$0.42
Output price / 1M tokens$0.18$3.00
Context window1M tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens131K131K
API providers listed113
Weight accessRestricted licenseOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image, Video
First listed21 July 202614 August 2026
PublisherPoolsideQwen

Evidence: 5 reported rows against measured corpus ladders (70%); global-corpus-prior over 183 held-out anchors (30%); shrunk 4.6 toward the measured corpus · 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 27B

Public benchmark boards where Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 27B has a published result
BoardLaguna S 2.1Qwen3.8 27BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14941480–1507Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—33.9intelligence-index:v4.3:xhighOnly one result
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Artificial Analysis—79.8%terminal-bench:2.1:terminus-2:e2b:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3.8 27B (xhigh)":reasoning=trueOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—33.9%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3.8 27B (xhigh)":reasoning=trueOnly one result
WildClawBench OpenClawWildClawBench—48.0Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 27B: common questions

Is Laguna S 2.1 better than Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 10 September 2026: #37 against #39. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Laguna S 2.1 cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B?

Laguna S 2.1 is cheaper on output tokens: $0.18/1M against $3.00/1M. Input tokens are $0.09/1M for Laguna S 2.1 and $0.42/1M for Qwen3.8 27B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.27 for Laguna S 2.1 versus $2.34 for Qwen3.8 27B. Laguna S 2.1 costs 88.5% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 27B?

Both publish a 1M-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Laguna S 2.1 or Qwen3.8 27B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Laguna S 2.1 and Qwen3.8 27B open-weight models?

Laguna S 2.1: Restricted license. Qwen3.8 27B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Laguna S 2.1 and Qwen3.8 27B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Laguna S 2.1 and 13 for Qwen3.8 27B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8 27B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 10 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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