Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs GPT-5.1
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.
AnthropicClaude Opus 4.5
55/100- ECI150.1
- Price$5.00 / $25.00
- Context200K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
- Our pick
OpenAIGPT-5.1
60/100- ECI149.7
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context400K
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 4.5Claude Opus 4.5: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · GPT-5.1: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Opus 4.5 | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 78 | 77 | 78 |
| Price | 25% | 2 | 28 | 24 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 37 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 55/100 | 54/100 | 60/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | GPT-5.1OpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 150.1 (best) | 149.2 | 149.7 |
| ECI rank | #48 of 148 (best) | #54 of 148 | #52 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 86.1% | 87.4% | 87.6% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 34.4% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 86.1% | 91.1% (best) | 88.6% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 76.7% (best) | 76.7% (best) | 68.0% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 45.7% | 52.0% (best) | 48.0% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $5.00 | $1.30 | $1.25 (best) |
| Output | $25.00 | $7.80 (best) | $10.00 |
| Cached input | $0.50 | $0.13 | $0.125 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $10.00 | $2.92 (best) | $3.44 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Anthropic API | Official Alibaba API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | claude-opus-4-5 | qwen3.6-max-preview | gpt-5.1 |
| API providers | 28 (best) | 10 | 21 |
| Released | Nov 24, 2025 | Apr 20, 2026 | Nov 13, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2025 | Apr 2025 | Sep 30, 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Claude Opus 4.5$100.00
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
- GPT-5.1$32.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Opus 4.5, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or GPT-5.1?
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, Claude Opus 4.5, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or GPT-5.1?
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: Claude Opus 4.5 up to 64,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, GPT-5.1 up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Opus 4.5 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; GPT-5.1 accepts text and images. Claude Opus 4.5 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Opus 4.5, Qwen3.6 Max Preview and GPT-5.1 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: Claude Opus 4.5 May 2025, Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025, GPT-5.1 Sep 30, 2024.
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.
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