Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) vs Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)

Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) is the pick when you need image input, Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) when you need log-probabilities.

Key numbers

SpecAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch)Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)
ProviderAnthropicQwen
Input price (per 1M tokens)$1.50$2.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)$7.50$6.00
Blended price (3:1 input/output)$3.00$3.00
Cheaper than … of all models we track21%21%
Context window1M tokens (~1,500 pages)1.0M tokens (~1,515 pages)
Larger context than … of all models69%79%
Max output per response128K tokens (~96,000 words)909K tokens (~681,800 words)
Input typestext, image, filetext
Output typestexttext
Free variantNoNo
Listed since2026-02-172026-08-12
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What it costs for real workloads

Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.

Workload (per month)Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch)Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)Difference
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens)
$263$270Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) saves $7.50
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens)
$255$300Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) saves $45.00
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens)
$270$312Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) saves $42.00
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens)
$165$196Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) saves $31.00
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens)
$82.50$106Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) saves $23.50

Capabilities side by side

CapabilityAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch)Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)What it lets you do
Tool / function calling✓ Yes✓ Yescall your APIs and run agent loops
Structured output (JSON schema)✓ Yes✓ Yesreturn JSON that validates against your schema
Reasoning / thinking mode✓ Yes✓ Yesspend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems
Image input✓ Yes—read screenshots, charts and scanned pages
Audio input——take speech or audio directly
File / PDF input✓ Yes—accept documents without your own parsing step
Image output——generate images, not just text
Built-in web search✓ Yes—answer from live web results
Seed (reproducible sampling)——repeat a generation for tests and evals
Log-probabilities—✓ Yesread token confidence for classification and scoring

From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.

Price history

DateModelInput / 1MOutput / 1M
2026-09-02Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)$2.00$6.00

Which should you choose?

Choose Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) if…

  • you need image input — to read screenshots, charts and scanned pages; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) does not advertise it
  • you need file / PDF input — to accept documents without your own parsing step; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) does not advertise it
  • you need built-in web search — to answer from live web results; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) does not advertise it

Choose Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) if…

  • you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) does not advertise it
  • you generate long outputs in one go — up to 909K tokens (about 681,800 words) per response
  • you want the newer model — released 2026-08-12, 6 months after the other

Frequently asked questions

Is Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) better than Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)?

Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) is the pick when you need image input, Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) when you need log-probabilities. In short: Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) when you need image input, you need file / PDF input, you need built-in web search; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) when you need log-probabilities, you generate long outputs in one go, you want the newer model.

Which is cheaper, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)?

They cost the same: $3.00 per 1M tokens at a 3:1 input/output mix.

How much do Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) cost per million tokens?

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $7.50 per 1M output tokens; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) costs $2.00 input and $6.00 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.

Which has the bigger context window, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)?

Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch): 1.0M tokens, about 1,515 pages, against 1M (about 1,500 pages) for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch).

Do Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) support function calling and JSON output?

Tool calling — Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch): yes, Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch): yes. JSON-schema structured output — Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch): yes, Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch): yes.

Can Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) read images?

Only Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) accepts image input; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) is text-only for input.

Is Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) free to use?

No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.

What is the maximum output length of Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch)?

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) can write up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) up to 909K (about 681,800 words).

When were Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) released?

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) was listed on 2026-02-17; Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) on 2026-08-12.

Has the price of Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) changed?

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch): price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-08-07. Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch): input price cut 20% ($2.50 → $2.00/1M), output price cut 4% ($6.25 → $6.00/1M) on 2026-09-02.

About the two models

Compare Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) with other models

Compare Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (batch) with other models

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