Comparison · Anthropic and Qwen
Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Listed API prices of Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) turned into the cost of the same three standard tasks, with speed from our own test requests in the United States and what each provider’s API documentation says about features that break on a switch. Output quality and answer length are not compared.
Calculated impact cost per task and per month
For an L2 task (deep analysis over a 50,000-token document, 3 steps), Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $0.348 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $0.336 at the prices listed in the United States on , so Claude Sonnet 5.5 is 3.6 % more than Qwen3.8 Max (0902), counting visible output only, without cache discounts or hidden reasoning.
| Task | Claude Sonnet 5.5, per task | Qwen3.8 Max (0902), per task | Claude Sonnet 5.5, per month | Qwen3.8 Max (0902), per month | Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902), per task |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1Micro-task (classification or strict JSON extraction) | $0.0050per L1 task | $0.0042per L1 task | $73.00per month | $61.32per month | +19.0 % |
| L2Deep analysis over a 50,000-token document | $0.348per L2 task | $0.336per L2 task | $5,080.80per month | $4,905.60per month | +3.6 % |
| L3Agentic coding loop, 15 steps | $2.72per L3 task | $2.69per L3 task | $39,726.60per month | $39,201.00per month | +1.3 % |
Calculated Per month: 20 tasks an hour around the clock, 730 hours.
Prices USD per 1M tokens
| Price | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Input, per 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| Price from | Provider's price list · source page Published | Provider's price list · source page Published |
| Read | · the United States | · the United States |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
What can I use it for? six common tasks, our data checks
Quality on your task: not measured by Measured Lab yet.
| Task | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Answer customer messages | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Pull data from invoices and documents with strict JSON and page images | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Summarize documents and meetings | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Translate content | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Chat assistant on your website | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Write and review code with tool calls | Fits on price and context | Fits on price and context |
| Tasks it fits | 6 of 6 | 6 of 6 |
Checks of our data for six common tasks: a published price, a context window and answer length for the task and, where the task needs them, strict JSON output, page images and tool calls; prices, cost a month and terms for each model on its model card. Compare models for your own task in the model picker.
Speed in the US Observed our test requests
In our test requests from the United States, the median time to the first answer token was 961 ms for Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Direct API · Anthropic) and 1,504 ms for Qwen3.8 Max (0902) (Direct API · Alibaba Cloud).
| Model and route | Time to first answer token, median | Output speed, median | Answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 5.5Direct API · Anthropic | 961 ms range 363 ms–8,537 ms | 115 tokens/s range 67.7 tokens/s–244 tokens/s | 115 answers on 23 dates |
| Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Direct API · Alibaba Cloud | 1,504 ms range 1,113 ms–3,190 ms | 43.2 tokens/s range 24.5 tokens/s–59.9 tokens/s | 110 answers on 22 dates |
The same short request to every model, sent from a measurement point in the United States; medians of successful answers on at least 2 different dates, latest on . How we measure
What breaks when you switch Published provider documentation
Moving from Anthropic to Qwen, 3 of the 5 features may not carry over, by each provider’s documentation:
- Strict JSON schemas — Anthropic: yes; Qwen: partly. Code that parses answers without checks starts failing where a provider promises only valid JSON, not your schema.
- Streamed tool arguments — Anthropic: yes; Qwen: not stated. An interface that shows arguments as they are written sees nothing until the whole call is ready.
- Cache covers tool definitions — Anthropic: yes; Qwen: not stated. Where the cache does not cover tool definitions, a long tool list is paid as fresh input on every request.
Moving from Qwen to Anthropic: every feature that Qwen’s documentation lists as supported is also listed as supported by Anthropic.
| Feature of the API | Anthropic | Qwen |
|---|---|---|
| Strict JSON schemas | Yes | Partly |
| Parallel tool calls | Yes | Yes |
| Streamed tool arguments | Yes | Not stated |
| Reasoning with tools | Yes | Yes |
| Cache covers tool definitions | Yes | Not stated |
What each provider’s own API documentation says, read ; “not stated” is not the same as “no”. Quotes and sources: what breaks when you switch AI APIs.