Model Comparison

LongCat-Flash-Lite vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

LongCat-Flash-Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Lite is 2.1x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

LongCat-Flash-Lite outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

LongCat-Flash-Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Apr 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

LongCat-Flash-Lite costs less

For input processing, LongCat-Flash-Lite ($0.10/1M tokens) is 3.5x cheaper than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.35/1M tokens).

For output processing, LongCat-Flash-Lite ($0.40/1M tokens) costs the same as Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Lite.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Apr 14 2026 • llm-stats.com
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerMeituan
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Input tokens$0.35
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerDeepinfra
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Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.2B diff

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct has 4.2B more parameters than LongCat-Flash-Lite, making it 6.1% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
68.5Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
72.7Bparameters
68.5B
LongCat-Flash-Lite
72.7B
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

LongCat-Flash-Lite accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Qwen2.5 72B Instruct's 131,072 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Lite can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
Input256,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Tue Apr 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

LongCat-Flash-Lite is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct uses Qwen.

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

LongCat-Flash-Lite

MIT

Open weights

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Qwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-Flash-Lite was released on 2026-02-05, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.

LongCat-Flash-Lite is 17 months newer than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.

LongCat-Flash-Lite

Feb 5, 2026

2 months ago

1.4yr newer
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Sep 19, 2024

1.6 years 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

LongCat-Flash-Lite is available from Meituan. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks, Together.

LongCat-Flash-Lite

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.35/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
hyperbolic logo
Hyperbolic
Input Price:Input: $0.40/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.89/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.89/1M
together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $1.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Meituan
Larger context window (256,000 tokens)
Less expensive input tokens
Higher GPQA score (66.8% vs 49.0%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (78.3% vs 71.1%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Lite
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Lite vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

LongCat-Flash-Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Lite is made by Meituan and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
LongCat-Flash-Lite scores MATH-500: 96.8%, MMLU: 85.5%, CMMLU: 82.5%, MMLU-Pro: 78.3%, Tau2 Retail: 73.1%. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 95.8%, MT-Bench: 93.5%, MBPP: 88.2%, MMLU-Redux: 86.8%, HumanEval: 86.6%.
LongCat-Flash-Lite is 3.5x cheaper for input tokens. LongCat-Flash-Lite costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output via meituan. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs $0.35/M input and $0.40/M output via deepinfra.
LongCat-Flash-Lite supports 256K tokens and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (256K vs 131K), input pricing ($0.10 vs $0.35/M), licensing (MIT vs Qwen). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
LongCat-Flash-Lite is developed by Meituan and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.