Model Comparison

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is 1.7x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Apr 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct costs less

For input processing, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($0.30/1M tokens) costs the same as Qwen2.5 7B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($1.20/1M tokens) is 4.0x more expensive than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).

In conclusion, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is more expensive than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Apr 17 2026 • llm-stats.com
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMeituan
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.30
Best providerTogether
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

552.4B diff

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 has 552.4B more parameters than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct, making it 7258.7% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
560.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
7.6Bparameters
560.0B
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
7.6B
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Fri Apr 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

MIT

Open weights

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 was released on 2026-01-14, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 16 months newer than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Jan 14, 2026

3 months ago

1.3yr newer
Qwen2.5 7B 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-Thinking-2601 is available from Meituan. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is available from Together.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.30/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Meituan
Higher GPQA score (80.5% vs 36.4%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (82.8% vs 28.7%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Less expensive output tokens

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is made by Meituan and Qwen2.5 7B 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-Thinking-2601 scores AIME 2025: 99.6%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Tau2 Retail: 88.6%, LiveCodeBench: 82.8%, GPQA: 80.5%. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.6%, MT-Bench: 87.5%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MBPP: 79.2%, MATH: 75.5%.
Both models cost $0.30 per million input tokens.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 supports 128K tokens and Qwen2.5 7B 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 (128K vs 131K), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is developed by Meituan and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.