Model Comparison
Claude 3.7 Sonnet vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601Which is better in 2026?
Claude 3.7 Sonnet shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 11.4x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3.7 Sonnet vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 — which is better?
Claude 3.7 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 (by Meituan) 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 3.7 Sonnet outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025). Claude 3.7 Sonnet shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is roughly 11.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3.7 Sonnet if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 if…
- cost matters — it's about 11.4x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3.7 Sonnet outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).
Claude 3.7 Sonnet 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 3.7 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3.7 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 12.5x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($1.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3.7 Sonnet is more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3.7 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's 128,000 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3.7 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 does not.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3.7 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.7 Sonnet was released on 2025-02-24, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 was released on 2026-01-14.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 11 months newer than Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
Feb 24, 2025
1.3 years ago
Jan 14, 2026
4 months ago
10mo 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 3.7 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is available from Meituan.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3.7 Sonnet
View detailsAnthropic
Claude 3.7 SonnetLongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601Detailed Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.7 Sonnet vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.