Claude Sonnet 4 vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B
Wins 4 of 6 areas
Coding · Agents · Facts · Long documents
Wins 1 of 6 areas
Following instructions
Claude Sonnet 4 is the stronger all-rounder.Qwen3 Next 80B A3B is cheaper and better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 39 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. 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 software31Claude Sonnet 43 of 4 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own20Claude Sonnet 42 of 2 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up21Claude Sonnet 42 of 3 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Sonnet 41 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Qwen3 Next 80B A3B1 of 1 test
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking11Even1 each · 1 tie
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 Next 80B A3B costs 93% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The three tests each model wins by the widest margin. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+57.9points ahead
- Command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench 2.1+29.6points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+21.3points ahead
Where Qwen3 Next 80B A3B pulls ahead
- Recent programming contest problemsLiveCodeBench v6+20.2points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+6points ahead
- Very hard expert questions across many subjectsHumanity's Last Exam+1.9points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 39 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Sonnet 4 by 29.636.36.7+29.6
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4 by 21.331.19.8+21.3
- LiveCodeBench v6Qwen3 Next 80B A3B by 20.248.568.7+20.2
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.24038.8+1.2
AgentsClaude Sonnet 4
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Sonnet 4 by 10.516.76.2+10.5
- GDPValClaude Sonnet 4 by 9.79.70+9.7
ReasoningEven
- Humanity's Last ExamQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 1.910.712.6+1.9
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.877.775.9+1.8
- CritPttie0.30tie
FactsClaude Sonnet 4
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4 by 57.970.913+57.9
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4 by 3.722.719+3.7
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 110.39.3+1
Following instructionsQwen3 Next 80B A3B
- IFBenchQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 654.760.7+6
Other results25 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.
- HMMT 2025Qwen3 Next 80B A3B by 5815.973.9+58
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4 by 51.60.2-51.4+51.6
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Sonnet 4 by 23.164.641.5+23.1
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4 by 20.237.617.4+20.2
- AIME 2025Qwen3 Next 80B A3B by 17.370.587.8+17.3
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Sonnet 4 by 15.517.62.1+15.5
- OJBenchQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 14.415.329.7+14.4
- HarmBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 13.49884.6+13.4
- TAU-bench (airline)Claude Sonnet 4 by 116049+11
- TAU-bench (retail)Claude Sonnet 4 by 10.980.569.6+10.9
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4 by 7.718.911.2+7.7
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthClaude Sonnet 4 by 74.9 rating points145.870.9+74.9 rating
- τ²-Bench (Retail)Claude Sonnet 4 by 7.27567.8+7.2
- SuperGPQAQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 5.155.760.8+5.1
- Tau2 airlineQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 555.560.5+5
- bbqClaude Sonnet 4 by 4.996.691.7+4.9
- vectara_answer_rateClaude Sonnet 4 by 4.298.694.4+4.2
- XSTestQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 1.796.698.3+1.7
- AIR-Bench 2024Claude Sonnet 4 by 1.688.386.7+1.6
- IFEvalQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 1.387.688.9+1.3
- MMLU-ReduxClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.193.692.5+1.1
- MMLU-ProClaude Sonnet 4 by 183.782.7+1
- vectara_factual_consistencyQwen3 Next 80B A3B by 189.790.7+1
- anthropic_red_teamtie99.299.9tie
- simple_safety_teststie10099.5tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4 or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B?
Claude Sonnet 4 wins four of the six areas where both have results: coding, agents, facts and long documents. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B wins following instructions, and costs 93% less. They are level on reasoning.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4. It wins 3 of the 4 coding tests both models report; Qwen3 Next 80B A3B wins 1.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Next 80B A3B costs $0.15 and $1.20. That makes Qwen3 Next 80B A3B about 93% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 39 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 14 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 25 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.