Model Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3 Max

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 Max is 3.7x cheaper per token.

Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while Qwen3 Max is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Apr 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3 Max costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 6.0x more expensive than Qwen3 Max ($0.50/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Qwen3 Max ($5.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is more expensive than Qwen3 Max.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Apr 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 Max
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$5.00
Best providerNovita
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 Max accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 200,000 tokens. Qwen3 Max can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 Max
Input256,000 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Tue Apr 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 Max does not.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 Max

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released on 2026-02-17, while Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 2 months newer than Qwen3 Max.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Feb 17, 2026

1 months ago

2mo newer
Qwen3 Max

Dec 15, 2025

3 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 Sonnet 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Qwen3 Max is available from Novita.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Qwen3 Max

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $5.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (89.9% vs 62.0%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (79.6% vs 69.6%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 Max

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (256,000 tokens)
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 Max

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3 Max

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Qwen3 Max is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores Tau2 Telecom: 97.9%, Tau2 Retail: 91.7%, GPQA: 89.9%, MMMLU: 89.3%, SWE-Bench Verified: 79.6%. Qwen3 Max scores AIME 2025: 81.6%, t2-bench: 74.8%, SWE-Bench Verified: 69.6%, LiveCodeBench v6: 69.0%, SuperGPQA: 65.1%.
Qwen3 Max is 6.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. Qwen3 Max costs $0.50/M input and $5.00/M output via novita.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 200K tokens and Qwen3 Max supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (200K vs 256K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.50/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and Qwen3 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.