Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen 3 Coder

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.

Claude Opus 4.5 by Anthropic wins on 9 of 15 benchmarks against Qwen 3 Coder by Qwen, which leads on 6. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.

Category-by-Category Breakdown

General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 1468 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 1290, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 89.5% on MMLU-Pro compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 72.0%.

Coding: In coding, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 92.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 90.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 66.5%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 70.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 52.0%.

Math: In math, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on MATH compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 76.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 96.5% on GSM8K compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 90.0%.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 87.0% on GPQA Diamond compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 48.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 57.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 28.0%.

Context: In context, Qwen 3 Coder scores 262K on Context Length compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 200K.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input tokens and $25.0/1M output tokens, while Qwen 3 Coder costs $0.30/1M input and $1.0/1M output. Qwen 3 Coder is the more affordable option for API usage.

Speed Comparison

Claude Opus 4.5 generates output at 50 tok/s compared to Qwen 3 Coder's 80 tok/s, and the time to first token is 1700 ms for Claude Opus 4.5 versus 350 ms for Qwen 3 Coder. Qwen 3 Coder delivers faster throughput.

Verdict

For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence and math, Claude Opus 4.5 has the edge. For those who value affordability and speed, Qwen 3 Coder is the stronger choice.

Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen 3 Coder — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or Qwen 3 Coder?

Claude Opus 4.5 wins on more benchmarks overall (9 vs 6). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude Opus 4.5 compare to Qwen 3 Coder for coding?

Claude Opus 4.5 is better for coding, scoring 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 66.5%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.

Is Claude Opus 4.5 cheaper than Qwen 3 Coder?

Yes, Qwen 3 Coder is cheaper. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens. Qwen 3 Coder costs $0.30/1M input and $1.0/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.5 or Qwen 3 Coder?

Qwen 3 Coder is faster, generating output at 80 tok/s compared to 50 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.

What benchmarks does the Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen 3 Coder comparison cover?

This comparison covers 15 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, LiveCodeBench, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.