Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B are closely matched at 31.7 and 32.0 on the LLM Stats Score. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is 19.2x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 31.7 and 32.0.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.6-35B-A3B wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is roughly 19.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B also accepts a larger context window (262,144 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 Sonnet 4.5
- your work emphasizes agents — it leads those capability indexes
Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 19.2x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
- 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
9 reported for Claude Sonnet 4.5 · 49 for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B 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 Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 30.0x more expensive than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 15.8x more expensive than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B ($0.95/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.5 is more expensive than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.5's 200,000 tokens. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B 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 Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16.
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is 7 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.
Sep 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
Apr 16, 2026
6 months ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B'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 Qwen3.6-35B-A3B's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
—
Provider Availability
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is available from Anthropic. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is available from DeepInfra.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.