Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Anthropic · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3.8-Flash-Next significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5
- you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output
Choose Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 specifies output context (64,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.8-Flash-Next support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3.8-Flash-Next uses Qwen Community License 1.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Qwen Community License 1.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while Qwen3.8-Flash-Next was released on 2026-08-26.
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 11 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.
Sep 29, 2025
11 months ago
Aug 26, 2026
0 days ago
11mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Qwen3.8-Flash-Next'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 Qwen3.8-Flash-Next's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
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Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3.8-Flash-Next side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next.