Model Comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B is 60.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 (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 Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, MMMLU), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 235B A22B is roughly 60.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- cost matters — it's about 60.0x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, MMMLU), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 30.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 150.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.5 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 Sonnet 4.5 accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 235B A22B's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 235B A22B can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 235B A22B does not.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Qwen3 235B A22B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 4.5 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 Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is 5 months newer than Qwen3 235B A22B.
Sep 29, 2025
10 months ago
5mo newerApr 29, 2025
1.2 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Qwen3 235B A22B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Claude Sonnet 4.5's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 235B A22B's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
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Provider Availability
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is available from Anthropic. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude Sonnet 4.5
View detailsAnthropic
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3 235B A22B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3 235B A22B.