GPT-5 vs Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Wins 4 of 5 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 5 areas
—
GPT-5 is the stronger all-rounder.Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct is cheaper.
Scores updated · 21 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the five 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 software50GPT-55 of 6 tests · 1 tie
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30GPT-53 of 3 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10GPT-51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10GPT-51 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up11Even1 each
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 Coder 480B A35B Instruct costs 20% 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 GPT-5 pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+32.6points ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+32.5points ahead
- Answers hard knowledge questions correctlyAA-Omniscience · Accuracy+24.6points ahead
Where Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+37.3points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 21 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingGPT-5
- LMArena · WebDevGPT-5 by 145 rating points14181273+145 rating
- Terminal-Bench HardGPT-5 by 13.732.618.9+13.7
- SciCodeGPT-5 by 742.935.9+7
- SWE-bench VerifiedGPT-5 by 5.374.969.6+5.3
- SWE-bench ProGPT-5 by 3.141.838.7+3.1
- SWE-bench Multilingualtie55.354.7tie
ReasoningGPT-5
- Humanity's Last ExamGPT-5 by 2428.54.5+24
- GPQA DiamondGPT-5 by 23.685.461.8+23.6
- CritPtGPT-5 by 5.75.70+5.7
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationQwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct by 37.317.855.1+37.3
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyGPT-5 by 24.640.315.7+24.6
Other results8 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.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)GPT-5 by 41.284.843.6+41.2
- Aider-PolyglotGPT-5 by 26.28861.8+26.2
- AA-OmniscienceGPT-5 by 13.5-8.7-22.2+13.5
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexGPT-5 by 13.237.824.6+13.2
- AA IntelligenceGPT-5 by 11.12311.9+11.1
- swe_bench_bashGPT-5 by 9.66555.4+9.6
- AA Agentic IndexGPT-5 by 8.226.518.3+8.2
- Terminal-Bench 2.0Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct by 2.335.237.5+2.3
Questions people ask
Which is better, GPT-5 or Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct?
GPT-5 wins four of the five areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct wins none, but costs 20% less. They are level on facts.
Which is better for coding?
GPT-5. It wins 5 of the 6 coding tests both models report; Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct wins none, and 1 is a tie.
Which is cheaper?
GPT-5 costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct costs $1.50 and $7.50. That makes Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct about 20% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 21 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 13 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 8 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.