Claude 3 Opus vs QwQ-32B-Preview
Claude 3 Opus and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched at 9.9 and 9.0 on the LLM Stats Score. QwQ-32B-Preview is 184.6x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude 3 Opus and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 9.9 and 9.0.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, QwQ-32B-Preview wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, QwQ-32B-Preview is roughly 184.6x 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.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude 3 Opus
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose QwQ-32B-Preview
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 184.6x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2024
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
11 reported for Claude 3 Opus · 4 for QwQ-32B-Preview
Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while QwQ-32B-Preview is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
QwQ-32B-Preview significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 100.0x more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 375.0x more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview ($0.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus is more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview.*
* 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 QwQ-32B-Preview's 32,768 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while QwQ-32B-Preview is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas QwQ-32B-Preview 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
QwQ-32B-Preview
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3 Opus is licensed under a proprietary license, while QwQ-32B-Preview 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 QwQ-32B-Preview was released on 2024-11-28.
QwQ-32B-Preview is 9 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.
Feb 29, 2024
2.6 years ago
Nov 28, 2024
1.8 years ago
9mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
QwQ-32B-Preview has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-28, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm QwQ-32B-Preview's training data extends to 2024-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.
—
Nov 2024
Provider Availability
Claude 3 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. QwQ-32B-Preview is available from DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks, Together.
Claude 3 Opus
QwQ-32B-Preview
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Opus and QwQ-32B-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs QwQ-32B-Preview.