Anthropic vs Alibaba (Qwen): models, pricing & how they compare

A side-by-side read on Anthropic and Alibaba (Qwen), anchored on each lab's flagship model, with API pricing, context windows, and their current Vikshy Score. For the full line-ups, see Anthropic models and Alibaba (Qwen) models.

Anthropic

83.4Frontier leader

Vikshy Score →

Claude Fable 5 Frontier

Context: 1M
Input /M: $10.00
Output /M: $50.00
Modality: Multimodal
Access: API + Claude apps

Ambitious, long-horizon agent work.

Alibaba (Qwen)

68.5Strong contender

Vikshy Score →

Qwen3-Max Flagship

Context: 256K
Input /M: $0.86
Output /M: $3.44
Modality: Text
Access: API

The hardest reasoning and long context workloads on Model Studio.

How they compare

On flagship API input price, Alibaba (Qwen) is cheaper ($0.86 vs $10.00 per million tokens).
Anthropic offers the larger flagship context window (1M vs 256K).
On the Vikshy Score, Anthropic ranks higher today (83.4 vs 68.5).

Flagship = each lab's highest-tier current model. Pricing and specs are the labs' listed figures; the Vikshy Score is a daily competitive reading, what is this?

Anthropic vs Alibaba (Qwen), common questions

Is Anthropic or Alibaba (Qwen) cheaper?

By flagship API input price, Alibaba (Qwen) is cheaper: $10.00 (Anthropic) vs $0.86 (Alibaba (Qwen)) per million input tokens.

Which has a larger context window, Anthropic or Alibaba (Qwen)?

Anthropic: its flagship handles up to 1M tokens, versus 256K for Alibaba (Qwen).

Which ranks higher on the Vikshy Score, Anthropic or Alibaba (Qwen)?

Anthropic, at 83.4 versus 68.5, as of 2026-07-24. The Score moves daily.