Model Comparison

Claude Opus 5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Claude Opus 5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?

Claude Opus 5 (by Anthropic) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (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.

On price, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is roughly 16.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Opus 5 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude Opus 5 if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 16.7x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 5 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 16.7x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 5 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 16.8x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($1.49/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 5 is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jul 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.49
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Opus 5 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's 262,144 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Claude Opus 5 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Sat Jul 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Opus 5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Opus 5

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 5 was released on 2026-07-24, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Claude Opus 5 is 10 months newer than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Claude Opus 5

Jul 24, 2026

1 days ago

10mo newer
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

10 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 5 is available from Anthropic. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.

Claude Opus 5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.49/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 5
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Which is better, Claude Opus 5 or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Claude Opus 5 compare to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 5 scores BrowseComp: 90.8%, BioMysteryBench: 90.1%, OSWorld 2.0: 70.6%, DeepSWE 1.1: 68.8%, Humanity's Last Exam: 64.7%. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 97.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.4%, MMLU-Redux: 92.2%, OCRBench: 92.0%, MMBench-V1.1: 89.9%.

Is Claude Opus 5 cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 16.7x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 5 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30/M input and $1.49/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Claude Opus 5 supports 1.0M tokens and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 262K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.30/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 5 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Claude Opus 5 is developed by Anthropic and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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