Claude Sonnet 4 vs QwQ 32B Preview
Wins 4 of 4 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 4 areas
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Claude Sonnet 4 is the stronger all-rounder.QwQ 32B Preview is cheaper.
Scores updated · 16 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the four 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.
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.
QwQ 32B Preview costs 91% 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 Sonnet 4 pulls ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+43.6points ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+18.4points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+15.9points ahead
Where QwQ 32B Preview pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 16 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4
- LiveCodeBench v6Claude Sonnet 4 by 9.448.539.1+9.4
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4 by 4.24035.8+4.2
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4 by 18.477.759.3+18.4
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4 by 3.310.77.3+3.3
Following instructionsClaude Sonnet 4
- IFBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 15.954.738.8+15.9
Other results10 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.
- Aider-PolyglotClaude Sonnet 4 by 49.870.720.9+49.8
- AIME 2025Claude Sonnet 4 by 37.270.533.3+37.2
- MMLU-ProClaude Sonnet 4 by 31.783.752+31.7
- LiveCodeBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 18.568.550+18.5
- SuperGPQAClaude Sonnet 4 by 12.155.743.6+12.1
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4 by 9.418.99.5+9.4
- AIME 2024QwQ 32B Preview by 6.643.450+6.6
- IFEvalClaude Sonnet 4 by 3.787.683.9+3.7
- MATH-500 (EM)Claude Sonnet 4 by 3.49490.6+3.4
- LiveBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.774.873.1+1.7
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4 or QwQ 32B Preview?
Claude Sonnet 4 wins all four areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. QwQ 32B Preview wins none, but costs 91% less.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; QwQ 32B Preview wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; QwQ 32B Preview costs $0.66 and $1.00. That makes QwQ 32B Preview about 91% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 16 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 6 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 10 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.