Model Comparison
Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B is 16.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Claude 3.5 Haiku (by Anthropic) and Qwen3 235B A22B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Claude 3.5 Haiku outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MGSM), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 235B A22B is roughly 16.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3.5 Haiku also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3.5 Haiku if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 16.0x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3.5 Haiku outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MGSM), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3.5 Haiku ($0.80/1M tokens) is 8.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3.5 Haiku ($4.00/1M tokens) is 40.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3.5 Haiku is more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 235B A22B's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3.5 Haiku can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Qwen3 235B A22B is limited to 128,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3.5 Haiku is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 235B A22B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.5 Haiku was released on 2024-10-22, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 6 months newer than Claude 3.5 Haiku.
Oct 22, 2024
1.6 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude 3.5 Haiku is available from Bedrock, Google, Anthropic. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3.5 Haiku
View detailsAnthropic
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Qwen3 235B A22B.