Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max
Too close to call on our weighted score (Claude Sonnet 5.5 72, Qwen3.8 Max 69, Claude Sonnet 5 66). The right pick depends on what you value most.
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 5
66/100- ECI156.3
- Price$2.00 / $10.00
- Context1M
- Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
72/100- ECI165.2
- Price$2.00 / $10.00
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Claude Sonnet 5.5 72/100, Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Claude Sonnet 5 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 5.5 for raw capability and Qwen3.8 Max on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityClaude Sonnet 5.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 5.5 165.2 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · Claude Sonnet 5 156.3
- Lowest priceQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max $3.00 · Claude Sonnet 5 $4.00 · Claude Sonnet 5.5 $4.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameClaude Sonnet 5 1,000,000 · Claude Sonnet 5.5 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxClaude Sonnet 5: Text, Images, PDFs · Claude Sonnet 5.5: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 86 | 97 | 86 |
| Price | 25% | 21 | 21 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 80 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 66/100 | 72/100 | 69/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.3 | 165.2 (best) | 156.6 |
| ECI rank | #23 of 148 | #3 of 148 (best) | #20 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 90.5% | 95.6% (best) | 92.7% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 65.6% | 88.8% (best) | 74.7% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 94.7% | 100% (best) | 99.4% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 33.7% | 46.5% (best) | 45.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output | $10.00 | $10.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.20 (best) | $0.20 (best) | $0.25 |
| Blended (3:1) | $4.00 | $4.00 | $3.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Anthropic API | Official Anthropic API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | claude-sonnet-5 | claude-sonnet-5-5 | qwen3.8-max |
| API providers | 38 (best) | 23 | 25 |
| Released | Jun 30, 2026 | Sep 28, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 31, 2026 | Jun 2026 | — |
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 5$40.00
- Claude Sonnet 5.5$40.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Claude Sonnet 5.5 72/100, Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Claude Sonnet 5 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 5.5 for raw capability and Qwen3.8 Max on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?
Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.00 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price); Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Max versus $4.00 for Claude Sonnet 5 (1.3× as much) and $4.00 for Claude Sonnet 5.5 (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 5.5 165.2 (#3 of 148), Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 5 156.3 (#23 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (161.8–169.4 vs 154.5–158.8), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Claude Sonnet 5.5 95.6%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, Claude Sonnet 5 90.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Claude Sonnet 5.5 88.8%, Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Claude Sonnet 5 65.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Sonnet 5.5 100%, Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Claude Sonnet 5 94.7%; SimpleQA Verified — Claude Sonnet 5.5 46.5%, Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%, Claude Sonnet 5 33.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Sonnet 5.5 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?
Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen3.8 Max share the same 1,000,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Claude Sonnet 5 up to 128,000, Claude Sonnet 5.5 up to 128,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Sonnet 5 accepts text, images and PDFs; Claude Sonnet 5.5 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen3.8 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the newest, released Sep 28, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 2026; Claude Sonnet 5 came out Jun 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Sonnet 5 Jan 31, 2026, Claude Sonnet 5.5 Jun 2026.
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.
