Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Qwen3 Max vs Claude Sonnet 4
Gemini 2.5 Pro comes out ahead, 63 to 51 and 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Max is 30% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Pro
63/100- ECI145.3
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context1.05M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
50/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 4
51/100- ECI141.7
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context200K
Gemini 2.5 Pro is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Claude Sonnet 4 (51) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 Max wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 2.5 ProCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 · Qwen3 Max 142.4 · Claude Sonnet 4 141.7
- Lowest priceQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max $2.40 · Gemini 2.5 Pro $3.44 · Claude Sonnet 4 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 ProGemini 2.5 Pro 1,048,576 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 · Claude Sonnet 4 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 ProGemini 2.5 Pro: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 Max: Text · Claude Sonnet 4: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Qwen3 Max | Claude Sonnet 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 72 | 68 | 68 |
| Price | 25% | 24 | 32 | 13 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 25 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 37 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 50/100 | 51/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Claude Sonnet 4Anthropic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 145.3 (best) | 142.4 | 141.7 |
| ECI rank | #78 of 148 (best) | #91 of 148 | #94 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 85.3% (best) | 72.6% | 79.2% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 24.6% (best) | 19.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 84.7% (best) | 73.3% | 71.1% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 57.6% | — | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 48.8% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.25 | $1.20 (best) | $3.00 |
| Output | $10.00 | $6.00 (best) | $15.00 |
| Cached input | $0.125 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.44 | $2.40 (best) | $6.00 |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $15.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Alibaba API | Median of 9 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens (best) | 64,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-pro | qwen3-max | — |
| API providers | 22 (best) | 16 | 9 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 | May 22, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Apr 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 2.5 Pro$32.50
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- Claude Sonnet 4$60.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Pro, Qwen3 Max or Claude Sonnet 4?
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Claude Sonnet 4 (51) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 Max wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Qwen3 Max or Claude Sonnet 4?
Qwen3 Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.40 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max versus $3.44 for Gemini 2.5 Pro (1.4× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4 (2.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 2.5 Pro scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 (#78 of 148), Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 4 141.7 (#94 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (143.6–146.9 vs 140.0–144.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 2.5 Pro 85.3%, Claude Sonnet 4 79.2%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 2.5 Pro 84.7%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%, Claude Sonnet 4 71.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max and Claude Sonnet 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Pro leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Pro has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 Max and 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 4. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Pro up to 65,536, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Claude Sonnet 4 up to 64,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3 Max accepts text; Claude Sonnet 4 accepts text, images and PDFs. Gemini 2.5 Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 2.5 Pro, Qwen3 Max and Claude Sonnet 4 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Pro came out Jun 17, 2025; Claude Sonnet 4 came out May 22, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Pro Jan 2025, Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, Claude Sonnet 4 Mar 31, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
