Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)
Head-to-head evidence from 12 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) #53 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) share 12 comparable benchmark results. 3 of 8 categories are comparable. 24 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 9 to Qwen 3.6 Max (preview).
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 12
- Claude Sonnet 5 only
- 24
- Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) only
- 9
- Comparable categories
- 3 / 8
Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 12 shared benchmark results across 4 evidence categories; 3 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude Sonnet 5 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 65.32 to 59.72. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude Sonnet 5's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 76.7 against 51. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 80.4% to 65.4%. Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Claude Sonnet 5 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for Qwen 3.6 Max (preview).
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Claude Sonnet 5 | Δ | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | Claude Sonnet 576.7 | Margin← 25.7 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)51.0 |
| Knowledge | Claude Sonnet 557.4 | Margin→ 16.5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)73.9 |
| Agentic | Claude Sonnet 581.9 | Margin← 16.5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)65.4 |
| Math | Claude Sonnet 5Not measured | MarginNo overlap | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)18.4 |
| Multimodal | Claude Sonnet 588.3 | MarginNo overlap | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)Not measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
Terminal-Bench 2.0
AgenticA 80.4%B 65.4%Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 15Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 80.4%; Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) scored 65.4%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
SWE-bench Pro
CodingA 63.2%B 57.3%Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 5.9SWE-bench Pro: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 63.2%; Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) scored 57.3%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 output | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)Not available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude Sonnet 5Not available | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)Not available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude Sonnet 5Not available | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)Not available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude Sonnet 51M | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)256K | Claude Sonnet 5 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
AgenticClaude Sonnet 5 wins16 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 80.4% | 65.4% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| BrowseCompSource | 84.7% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/ toolsSource | 57.4% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 81.2% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1607 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 46.7% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 55.4% | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 1388 | — | Not comparable |
| AA AutomationBenchSource | 39.2% | — | Not comparable |
| AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource | 44.7% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Harvey LABSource | 90.1% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | 28.2% | — | Not comparable |
| aaTerminalBench21Source | 80.5% | — | Not comparable |
| QwenClawBenchSource | — | 59.0% | Not comparable |
| QwenWebBenchSource | — | 1532 | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 95.9% | Not comparable |
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins11 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 85.2% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE-bench ProSource | 63.2% | 57.3% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| SWE MultilingualSource | 78.3% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultimodalSource | 28.1% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 80.4% | 65.4% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource | 42.7% | — | Not comparable |
| cursorBench32Source | 61.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | 71.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 53.6% | 46.9% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| SciCodeSource | — | 47% | Not comparable |
| NL2RepoSource | — | 42.9% | Not comparable |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
KnowledgeQwen 3.6 Max (preview) wins9 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| HLESource | 57.4% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 43.2% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 53.4% | 40.0% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 91.1% | 88.8% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 39.6% | 28.9% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 15.3% | 10.2% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 38.3% | 37.7% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 37.3% | 44.2% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| SuperGPQASource | — | 73.9% | Not comparable |
Math2 benchmarks
Multimodal4 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | — | 76.6% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (4)
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?
Claude Sonnet 5 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 65.32 to 59.72. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 80.4% and 65.4%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?
Qwen 3.6 Max (preview) has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 73.9 versus 57.4. Inside this category, Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?
Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 51. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen 3.6 Max (preview)?
Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.9 versus 65.4. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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