Model Comparison
Claude 3 Sonnet vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 12.3x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3 Sonnet vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking — which is better?
Claude 3 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking (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 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is roughly 12.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3 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 Sonnet if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 12.3x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3 Sonnet is more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking's 65,536 tokens. Claude 3 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking does not.
Claude 3 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3 Sonnet
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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 Sonnet was released on 2024-02-29, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking was released on 2025-09-10.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 19 months newer than Claude 3 Sonnet.
Feb 29, 2024
2.3 years ago
Sep 10, 2025
9 months ago
1.5yr 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 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is available from Novita.
Claude 3 Sonnet
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3 Sonnet
View detailsAnthropic
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Sonnet vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.