ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.1 vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview

GPT-5.1 comes out ahead, 60 to 55 and 54 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.6 Max Preview is 15% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5.1

    Released Nov 13, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI149.7
    • Price$1.25 / $10.00
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.1

  2. Anthropic

    Claude Opus 4.5

    Released Nov 24, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI150.1
    • Price$5.00 / $25.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove Claude Opus 4.5

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Max Preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    54/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.30 / $7.80
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Max Preview
01 — Verdict

GPT-5.1 is our pick

GPT-5.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Claude Opus 4.5 (55) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on context window. Claude Opus 4.5 wins on inputs & features. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Opus 4.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Opus 4.5 150.1 · GPT-5.1 149.7 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 · GPT-5.1 $3.44 · Claude Opus 4.5 $10.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.1GPT-5.1 400,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · Claude Opus 4.5 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsClaude Opus 4.5GPT-5.1: Text, Images · Claude Opus 4.5: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.1Claude Opus 4.5Qwen3.6 Max Preview
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%787877
Price25%24228
Inputs & features15%708035
Context window10%443237
Overall100%60/10055/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-5.1 vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.1OpenAIClaude Opus 4.5AnthropicQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.7150.1 (best)149.2
ECI rank#52 of 148#48 of 148 (best)#54 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions87.6% (best)86.1%87.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—34.4%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.6%86.1%91.1% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues68.0%76.7% (best)76.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions48.0%45.7%52.0% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$1.25 (best)$5.00$1.30
Output$10.00$25.00$7.80 (best)
Cached input$0.125 (best)$0.50$0.13
Blended (3:1)$3.44$10.00$2.92 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Anthropic APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens (best)200,000 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)64,000 tokens65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYeslow · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-5.1claude-opus-4-5qwen3.6-max-preview
API providers2128 (best)10
ReleasedNov 13, 2025Nov 24, 2025Apr 20, 2026
Knowledge cutoffSep 30, 2024May 2025Apr 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-5.1$32.50
  • Claude Opus 4.5$100.00
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.1, Claude Opus 4.5 or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

GPT-5.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Claude Opus 4.5 (55) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on context window. Claude Opus 4.5 wins on inputs & features. Qwen3.6 Max Preview wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.1, Claude Opus 4.5 or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is cheaper at $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.1 costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.00 input / $25.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.92 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 Max Preview versus $3.44 for GPT-5.1 (1.2× as much) and $10.00 for Claude Opus 4.5 (3.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Opus 4.5 150.1 (#48 of 148), GPT-5.1 149.7 (#52 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.9–153.0 vs 148.3–151.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.1 87.6%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, Claude Opus 4.5 86.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, GPT-5.1 88.6%, Claude Opus 4.5 86.1%; SWE-bench Verified — Claude Opus 4.5 76.7%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7%, GPT-5.1 68.0%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, GPT-5.1 48.0%, Claude Opus 4.5 45.7%.

Which is better for coding?

Claude Opus 4.5 resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Claude Opus 4.5 76.7%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7% and GPT-5.1 68.0%. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-5.1 has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview and 200,000 for Claude Opus 4.5. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.1 up to 128,000, Claude Opus 4.5 up to 64,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.1 accepts text and images; Claude Opus 4.5 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text. Claude Opus 4.5 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5.1, Claude Opus 4.5 and Qwen3.6 Max Preview are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Claude Opus 4.5 came out Nov 24, 2025; GPT-5.1 came out Nov 13, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.1 Sep 30, 2024, Claude Opus 4.5 May 2025, Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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