Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs GPT-5.2
Too close to call on our weighted score (Claude Sonnet 4.6 62, GPT-5.2 61, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 54). The right pick depends on what you value most.
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 4.6
62/100- ECI152.3
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
OpenAIGPT-5.2
61/100- ECI153.5
- Price$1.75 / $14.00
- Context400K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Claude Sonnet 4.6 62/100, GPT-5.2 61/100, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 54/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.2 for raw capability, Qwen3.6 Max Preview on price and Claude Sonnet 4.6 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGPT-5.2Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.2 153.5 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
- Lowest priceQwen3.6 Max PreviewQwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 · GPT-5.2 $4.81 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextClaude Sonnet 4.6Claude Sonnet 4.6 1,000,000 · GPT-5.2 400,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsClaude Sonnet 4.6Claude Sonnet 4.6: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · GPT-5.2: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | GPT-5.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 81 | 77 | 83 |
| Price | 25% | 13 | 28 | 18 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 37 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 62/100 | 54/100 | 61/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | GPT-5.2OpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 152.3 | 149.2 | 153.5 (best) |
| ECI rank | #40 of 148 | #54 of 148 | #38 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 87.4% | 87.4% | 91.4% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 67.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 85.8% | 91.1% | 96.1% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 75.2% | 76.7% (best) | 73.8% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 35.5% | 52.0% (best) | 37.1% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $3.00 | $1.30 (best) | $1.75 |
| Output | $15.00 | $7.80 (best) | $14.00 |
| Cached input | $0.30 | $0.13 (best) | $0.175 |
| Blended (3:1) | $6.00 | $2.92 (best) | $4.81 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Anthropic API | Official Alibaba API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| 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 · max | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | claude-sonnet-4-6 | qwen3.6-max-preview | gpt-5.2 |
| API providers | 41 (best) | 10 | 21 |
| Released | Feb 17, 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 | Dec 11, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2025 | Apr 2025 | Aug 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.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6$60.00
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
- GPT-5.2$45.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Sonnet 4.6, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or GPT-5.2?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Claude Sonnet 4.6 62/100, GPT-5.2 61/100, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 54/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.2 for raw capability, Qwen3.6 Max Preview on price and Claude Sonnet 4.6 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or GPT-5.2?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is cheaper at $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.2 costs $1.75 input / $14.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 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 $4.81 for GPT-5.2 (1.6× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
GPT-5.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.2 153.5 (#38 of 148), Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 (#40 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (151.7–155.4 vs 149.6–154.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.2 91.4%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 87.4%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.2 96.1%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 85.8%; SWE-bench Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2%, GPT-5.2 73.8%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, GPT-5.2 37.1%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 35.5%.
Which is better for coding?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Qwen3.6 Max Preview 76.7%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2% and GPT-5.2 73.8%. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.2 and 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: Claude Sonnet 4.6 up to 64,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, GPT-5.2 up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; GPT-5.2 accepts text and images. Claude Sonnet 4.6 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Sonnet 4.6, Qwen3.6 Max Preview and GPT-5.2 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.6 came out Feb 17, 2026; GPT-5.2 came out Dec 11, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Sonnet 4.6 Aug 31, 2025, Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025, GPT-5.2 Aug 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.
Related comparisons
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3 Pro PreviewGoogle · ECI 153.0
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3.7 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 153.7
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs InklingThinking Machines · ECI 148.6
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs GLM-5.1Z.ai (Zhipu) · ECI 149.9
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Grok 4.3xAI · ECI 149.2
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI · ECI 148.8
