Compare / Qwen3-Max vs Claude Opus 5
Qwen3-Max vs Claude Opus 5
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 12 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 12 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 13 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-13-2e2420e3c5cc). See also Alibaba vs Anthropic, every model from both labs.
Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5? The short answer
Pick Claude Opus 5 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 50.8 against 15.6). Pick Qwen3-Max if cost matters more: it costs 6.4 times less per token.
- Qwen3-Max is cheaper: $1.56 against $10.00 per million tokens, 6.4 times less.
- Claude Opus 5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 50.8 against 15.6.
- Claude Opus 5 is newer: released 24 Jul 2026, against 24 Sep 2025 for Qwen3-Max.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Claude Opus 5 does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3-Max | Claude Opus 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.78 in · $3.90 out | $5.00 in · $25.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $1.56 | $10.00 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $10.00 (Amazon Bedrock) |
| Cached input, per million | – | $0.50 cached input |
| Intelligence Index | 15.6 | 50.8 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Released | 24 Sep 2025 | 24 Jul 2026 (newer) |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Qwen3-Max | Claude Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 108 · 11 of 387 measured | 1,423 | 1,490high reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 110 · 13 of 380 measured | 1,419 | 1,486high reasoning |
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 105 · 11 of 385 measured | 1,393 | 1,471high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 123 · 7 of 243 measured | 15.6 | 50.8max reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 132 · 8 of 231 measured | 76.4% | 93.7%high reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 140 · 6 of 242 measured | 11.9% | 54.9%max reasoning |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 27 · 16 of 76 measured | 48.7% | 59.9%max reasoning |
| Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result | ||
| Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 52 · 3 of 58 measured | $71.57 | $11,182 |
Show all 12 results (4 more)
| Measure | Qwen3-Max | Claude Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 137 · 5 of 338 measured | 1,417 | 1,543high reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 106 · 7 of 387 measured | 1,413 | 1,496high reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 101 · 12 of 386 measured | 1,405 | 1,480high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 1 result | ||
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 154 · 24 of 233 measured | 50.0% | 82.0%medium reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3-Max better than Claude Opus 5?
Pick Claude Opus 5 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 50.8 against 15.6). Pick Qwen3-Max if cost matters more: it costs 6.4 times less per token.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Qwen3-Max is cheaper: $1.56 against $10.00 per million tokens, 6.4 times less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5 ranks 6 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 154 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5 ranks 6 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 121 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5 ranks 10 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 99 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5 ranks 14 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 50 for Qwen3-Max.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-Max or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5: 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3-Max.
Run Qwen3-Max and Claude Opus 5 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.