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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) vs Qwen3 Max

Claude Haiku 4.5 comes out ahead, 48 to 34 and 31 on our weighted score, though Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) is 6% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Anthropic

    Claude Haiku 4.5

    Released Oct 15, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.00 / $5.00
    • Context200K
  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)

    Released Sep 2025

    34/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $6.00
    • Context131K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    31/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
01 — Verdict

Claude Haiku 4.5 is our pick

Claude Haiku 4.5 is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) $1.88 · Claude Haiku 4.5 $2.00 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · Claude Haiku 4.5 200,000 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsClaude Haiku 4.5Claude Haiku 4.5: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking): Text · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightClaude Haiku 4.5Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Qwen3 Max
Price50%363732
Inputs & features30%803525
Context window20%322437
Overall100%48/10034/10031/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) vs Qwen3 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationClaude Haiku 4.5AnthropicQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)142.4 (best)—142.4
ECI rank#90 of 148 (best)—#91 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.2%—72.6% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——19.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics66.7%—73.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions13.2%—48.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$1.00$0.50 (best)$1.20
Output$5.00 (best)$6.00$6.00
Cached input$0.10——
Blended (3:1)$2.00$1.88 (best)$2.40
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Anthropic APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window200,000 tokens131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output64,000 tokens32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenProprietary
API model IDclaude-haiku-4-5qwen3-next-80b-a3b-thinkingqwen3-max
API providers34 (best)1016
ReleasedOct 15, 2025Sep 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffFeb 28, 2025Apr 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.

  • Claude Haiku 4.5$20.00
  • Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)$17.00
  • Qwen3 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Claude Haiku 4.5, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) or Qwen3 Max?

Claude Haiku 4.5 is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) or Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) is cheaper at $0.50 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price); Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.88 per million tokens for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) versus $2.00 for Claude Haiku 4.5 (1.1× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Claude Haiku 4.5 has an ECI of 142.4, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Haiku 4.5, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) and Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 200,000 for Claude Haiku 4.5 and 131,072 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking). Maximum output per response: Claude Haiku 4.5 up to 64,000, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) up to 32,768, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Claude Haiku 4.5 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) accepts text; Qwen3 Max accepts text. Claude Haiku 4.5 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Claude Haiku 4.5 and Qwen3 Max is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Claude Haiku 4.5 is the newest, released Oct 15, 2025. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Haiku 4.5 Feb 28, 2025, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) Apr 2025, Qwen3 Max 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.