Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Qwen3-Max Max: which model should you choose?
We compared Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Qwen3-Max Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the stronger average benchmark score; Claude Sonnet 4.5 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is a frontier model from Anthropic. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $17.84 per million input tokens and $70.50 per million output tokens, and averages 86.0 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.84 / 1M
- Output
- $70.50 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 86.0
- Open weights
- No
Qwen3-Max Max
Qwen3-Max Max is a frontier model from Alibaba Cloud. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $18.53 per million input tokens and $74.05 per million output tokens, and averages 85.9 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $18.53 / 1M
- Output
- $74.05 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 85.9
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Qwen3-Max Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $17.84 | $18.53 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $70.50 | $74.05 | A |
| Context window | 400,000 | 400,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 128,000 | 65,536 | A |
| Average score | 86.0 | 85.9 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1478.2 | 1467.7 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins 6, Qwen3-Max Max wins 6, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Qwen3-Max Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 88.0 | 85.2 | 2.8 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| GPQA Diamond | 82.6 | 83.8 | 1.2 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.2 | 74.3 | 0.1 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| HumanEval | 92.7 | 90.2 | 2.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| MATH-500 | 87.0 | 92.8 | 5.8 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| AIME 2025 | 86.3 | 82.7 | 3.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LiveCodeBench | 82.5 | 82.8 | 0.3 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| IFEval | 91.1 | 93.7 | 2.6 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| TruthfulQA | 87.2 | 89.3 | 2.1 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| HellaSwag | 93.0 | 91.4 | 1.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| MMMU | 80.9 | 78.9 | 2.0 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| Arena Elo | 1478.2 | 1467.7 | 10.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs about $31.00 per million tokens and Qwen3-Max Max costs about $32.41. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is roughly 4% cheaper than Qwen3-Max Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 400,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins 6, Qwen3-Max Max wins 6, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads Qwen3-Max Max by 0.1 points (86.0 versus 85.9).
The price picture favours Claude Sonnet 4.5. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Claude Sonnet 4.5 for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
Choose Qwen3-Max Max if
- You prefer Alibaba Cloud's tooling or already use it.
FAQ
Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 better than Qwen3-Max Max?
On the index average, Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads Qwen3-Max Max by 0.1 points (86.0 versus 85.9). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins 6 benchmarks, Qwen3-Max Max wins 6.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Qwen3-Max Max?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $31.00 per million tokens, versus $32.41 for Qwen3-Max Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 400,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is proprietary; Qwen3-Max Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Claude Sonnet 4.5 for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.