Claude Fable 5 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Wins 7 of 8 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Facts · Images and charts · Math · Long documents
Wins 1 of 8 areas
Following instructions
Claude Fable 5 is the stronger all-rounder.Qwen3.5 397B A17B is cheaper and better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 36 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the eight areas we test. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software70Claude Fable 57 of 7 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own50Claude Fable 55 of 5 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30Claude Fable 53 of 3 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up30Claude Fable 53 of 3 tests
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video20Claude Fable 52 of 2 tests
- MathCompetition and research-level math10Claude Fable 51 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Fable 51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Qwen3.5 397B A17B1 of 1 test
Math, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Qwen3.5 397B A17B costs 93% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Fable 5 pulls ahead
- Unpublished advanced math problemsFrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)+55.8points ahead
- Short factual questions, answered correctlySimpleQA Verified+44.7points ahead
- Real work tasks from 44 professionsGDPVal+40.8points ahead
Where Qwen3.5 397B A17B pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+15.3points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 36 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Fable 5
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Fable 5 by 33.384.651.3+33.3
- SWE-bench ProClaude Fable 5 by 29.18050.9+29.1
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Fable 5 by 226 rating points16251399+226 rating
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Fable 5 by 2262.940.9+22
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Fable 5 by 18.69576.4+18.6
- SWE-bench MultilingualClaude Fable 5 by 17.386.669.3+17.3
- SciCodeClaude Fable 5 by 16.26144.8+16.2
AgentsClaude Fable 5
- Terminal-Bench 4.0Claude Fable 5 by 42.442.40+42.4
- GDPValClaude Fable 5 by 40.855.614.8+40.8
- AA ApexAgentsClaude Fable 5 by 2843.315.3+28
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Fable 5 by 24.738.113.4+24.7
- BrowseCompClaude Fable 5 by 18.487.469+18.4
ReasoningClaude Fable 5
- CritPtClaude Fable 5 by 26.928.61.7+26.9
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Fable 5 by 26.555.529+26.5
- GPQA DiamondClaude Fable 5 by 3.392.689.3+3.3
FactsClaude Fable 5
- SimpleQA VerifiedClaude Fable 5 by 44.770.726+44.7
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Fable 5 by 34.665.330.8+34.6
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Fable 5 by 25.336.411.1+25.3
Images and chartsClaude Fable 5
- MMMU-ProClaude Fable 5 by 6.984.277.3+6.9
- LMArena · VisionClaude Fable 5 by 61 rating points13251264+61 rating
Following instructionsQwen3.5 397B A17B
- IFBenchQwen3.5 397B A17B by 15.363.578.8+15.3
Other results13 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- GDPval-AA v2Claude Fable 5 by 761 rating points1723962+761 rating
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Fable 5 by 7443.3-30.8+74
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Fable 5 by 40.45110.6+40.4
- Toolathlon VerifiedClaude Fable 5 by 37.277.940.7+37.2
- AA IntelligenceClaude Fable 5 by 31.249.618.4+31.2
- SWEBench Pro PublicClaude Fable 5 by 29.18050.9+29.1
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Fable 5 by 28.376.548.2+28.3
- ToolathlonClaude Fable 5 by 23.461.738.3+23.4
- HLE (with tools)Claude Fable 5 by 15.563.848.3+15.5
- τ³-Bench BankingClaude Fable 5 by 13.426.813.4+13.4
- WideSearchClaude Fable 5 by 7.281.274+7.2
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Fable 5 by 2.998.595.6+2.9
- StrongREJECTtie98.799.4tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Fable 5 or Qwen3.5 397B A17B?
Claude Fable 5 wins seven of the eight areas we test: coding, agents, reasoning, facts, images and charts, math and long documents. Qwen3.5 397B A17B wins following instructions, and costs 93% less.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Fable 5. It wins 7 of the 7 coding tests both models report; Qwen3.5 397B A17B wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Fable 5 costs $10.00 per million input tokens and $50.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 397B A17B costs $0.60 and $3.60. That makes Qwen3.5 397B A17B about 93% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 36 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 23 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 13 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.