Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Claude Haiku 4.5
Claude Haiku 4.5 comes out ahead, 48 to 39 and 31 on our weighted score, though Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is 2.3× cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
31/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct
39/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
AnthropicClaude Haiku 4.5
48/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.00 / $5.00
- Context200K
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 Instruct (39) and Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on context window. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct wins on price. 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 InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct $0.875 · 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 Instruct 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsClaude Haiku 4.5Qwen3 Max: Text · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct: Text · Claude Haiku 4.5: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 Max | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct | Claude Haiku 4.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 32 | 53 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 24 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 31/100 | 39/100 | 48/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 142.4 | — | 142.4 (best) |
| ECI rank | #91 of 148 | — | #90 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 72.6% (best) | — | 71.2% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 19.0% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 73.3% (best) | — | 66.7% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 48.8% (best) | — | 13.2% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.20 | $0.50 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $6.00 | $2.00 (best) | $5.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.10 |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.40 | $0.875 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official Anthropic API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 64,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-max | qwen3-next-80b-a3b-instruct | claude-haiku-4-5 |
| API providers | 16 | 13 | 34 (best) |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Sep 2025 | Oct 15, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 | Feb 28, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct$9.00
- Claude Haiku 4.5$20.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 Max, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Claude Haiku 4.5?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (39) and Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on context window. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct wins on price. 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, Qwen3 Max, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Claude Haiku 4.5?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.50 input / $2.00 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 $0.875 per million tokens for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct versus $2.00 for Claude Haiku 4.5 (2.3× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (2.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and Claude Haiku 4.5 has an ECI of 142.4.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct and Claude Haiku 4.5 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 Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Claude Haiku 4.5 up to 64,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 Max accepts text; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Claude Haiku 4.5 accepts text, images and PDFs. Claude Haiku 4.5 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Max and Claude Haiku 4.5 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 Instruct came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, Claude Haiku 4.5 Feb 28, 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.
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