Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs. Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)
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Overview
Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) was released 5 months before Claude Sonnet 4.6.
 Claude Sonnet 4.6 |  Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Anthropic | Qwen |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 128K tokens | 32.8K tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | February 17, 2026 5 months ago February 17th, 2026 | September 8, 2025 10 months ago September 8th, 2025 |
Knowledge Cutoff Latest training-data date reported by the provider | Not reported | March 31, 2025 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text🖼️Image📁File | 📝Text |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | OptionalEffort: Max, High, Medium, LowDefault: Medium | Optional |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Claude | Qwen3 |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning Mode✓Content Moderation | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Pricing
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is roughly 11.5x more expensive compared to Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) for input tokens and roughly 19.2x more expensive for output tokens.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) | |
|---|---|---|
Short Context Pricing Base rates before a long-context threshold applies | ||
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | $0.26 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $15.00 per million tokens | $0.78 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.01 per search | Not specified |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.30 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $3.75 per million tokens | $0.33 per million tokens |
1-Hour Cache Write Cost Cost to cache input tokens for one hour | $6.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Long Context Pricing Rates for prompts with 256,000 or more tokens | ||
Input Token Cost Long-context input cost per million tokens | Not specified | $0.78 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Long-context output cost per million tokens | Not specified | $2.34 per million tokens |
Cache Write Cost Long-context cache write cost per million tokens | Not specified | $0.97 per million tokens |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking).
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) | |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall model quality across independent evaluations | 47.2 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Coding Index Programming performance across independent evaluations | 63 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Agentic Index Ability to complete multi-step agentic tasks | 40.8 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,314 Elo (#14 in Game Dev (60.2% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) unique.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic understands both text and images, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Premium pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output tokens. Includes built-in content moderation for safer outputs. Released February 17th, 2026.Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) by Qwen can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Very affordable at $0.26/M input and $0.78/M output tokens. Released September 8th, 2025.Explore More Comparisons
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Compare Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) with:
🚀Programming
Best models for coding and development
🎨Creative & Roleplay
Models optimized for creative writing
📢Marketing
Content creation and marketing tasks
💻Technology
Technical analysis and explanations
🔬Science
Scientific research and analysis
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