Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct

Compare Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) by Anthropic against Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct by Qwen, context windows of 200K vs 66K, tested across 41 shared challenges. Updated March 2026.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct are both competitive models. Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) costs $3/M input tokens vs $0.15/M for Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct. Context windows: 200K vs 66K tokens. Compare their real outputs side by side below.

Key Differences Between Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) is made by anthropic while Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct is from qwen. Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) has a 200K token context window compared to Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct's 66K. On pricing, Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) costs $3/M input tokens vs $0.15/M for Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct.

Our Verdict
Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct

No community votes yet. On paper, these are closely matched - try both with your actual task to see which fits your workflow.

Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct is 10x cheaper per token — worth considering if cost matters.

Too close to call

Ask them anything

FAQ