Claude Sonnet 4 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Qwen3 Max
Gemini 2.5 Pro comes out ahead, 63 to 51 and 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Max is 30% cheaper per token.
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 4
51/100- ECI141.7
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context200K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Pro
63/100- ECI145.3
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context1.05M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
50/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
Gemini 2.5 Pro is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Claude Sonnet 4 (51) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 Max wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 2.5 ProCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 · Qwen3 Max 142.4 · Claude Sonnet 4 141.7
- Lowest priceQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max $2.40 · Gemini 2.5 Pro $3.44 · Claude Sonnet 4 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 ProGemini 2.5 Pro 1,048,576 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 · Claude Sonnet 4 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 ProClaude Sonnet 4: Text, Images, PDFs · Gemini 2.5 Pro: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 Max: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Sonnet 4 | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 68 | 72 | 68 |
| Price | 25% | 13 | 24 | 32 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 100 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 61 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 51/100 | 63/100 | 50/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Sonnet 4Anthropic | Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 141.7 | 145.3 (best) | 142.4 |
| ECI rank | #94 of 148 | #78 of 148 (best) | #91 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 79.2% | 85.3% (best) | 72.6% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 24.6% (best) | 19.0% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 71.1% | 84.7% (best) | 73.3% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 57.6% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | — | 48.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $3.00 | $1.25 | $1.20 (best) |
| Output | $15.00 | $10.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.125 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $6.00 | $3.44 | $2.40 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $15.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Official Google API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | gemini-2.5-pro | qwen3-max |
| API providers | 9 | 22 (best) | 16 |
| Released | May 22, 2025 | Jun 17, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 31, 2025 | Jan 2025 | Apr 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$60.00
- Gemini 2.5 Pro$32.50
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro or Qwen3 Max?
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Claude Sonnet 4 (51) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 Max wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro or Qwen3 Max?
Qwen3 Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.40 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max versus $3.44 for Gemini 2.5 Pro (1.4× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4 (2.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 2.5 Pro scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 (#78 of 148), Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 4 141.7 (#94 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (143.6–146.9 vs 140.0–144.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 2.5 Pro 85.3%, Claude Sonnet 4 79.2%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 2.5 Pro 84.7%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%, Claude Sonnet 4 71.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Sonnet 4 and Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Pro leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Pro has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 Max and 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 4. Maximum output per response: Claude Sonnet 4 up to 64,000, Gemini 2.5 Pro up to 65,536, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Sonnet 4 accepts text, images and PDFs; Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3 Max accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro and Qwen3 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Pro came out Jun 17, 2025; Claude Sonnet 4 came out May 22, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Sonnet 4 Mar 31, 2025, Gemini 2.5 Pro Jan 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.
