Model Comparison
Claude 3 Opus vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Claude 3 Opus shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B is 300.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Claude 3 Opus (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 Opus outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MGSM, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 2 benchmarks (MATH, MMLU). Claude 3 Opus shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 235B A22B is roughly 300.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3 Opus also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3 Opus if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- cost matters — it's about 300.0x 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 Opus outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MGSM, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 2 benchmarks (MATH, MMLU).
Claude 3 Opus 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 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 150.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 750.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus 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 Opus accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 235B A22B's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Qwen3 235B A22B is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 235B A22B does not.
Claude 3 Opus can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3 Opus
Qwen3 235B A22B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3 Opus 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 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 14 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.
Feb 29, 2024
2.4 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.2 years ago
1.2yr 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 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Claude 3 Opus
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3 Opus
View detailsAnthropic
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Opus and Qwen3 235B A22B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs Qwen3 235B A22B.