Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 30.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct costs 3.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Claude Sonnet 5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 3 shared benchmarks.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic

61.9

Rank #10 Confirmed

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct Alibaba (Qwen)

30.1

Rank #297 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher in 4 categories and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct in 0 categories; 4 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads 87.9 to 16.2.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 100% for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and 7.4% for Qwen2.5 32B Instruct.
  • Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is cheaper at $0.70 / $2.80 per million input/output tokens, against $2 / $10 for Claude Sonnet 5.5.
  • Claude Sonnet 5.5 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.
  • Qwen2.5 32B Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct specifications
Claude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
ProviderAnthropicAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index61.930.1
Released2026-09-282024-09
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1M131K
Max output128K8K
Input $ / M tokens$2$0.70
Output $ / M tokens$10$2.80
Results tracked327

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Category by category

Coding Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 67.3 (#6), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 38.7 (#169)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
FrontierCode52.1%—
CursorBench55.5%—
LMArena WebDev1774—
FrontierSWE61.9%—
SciCode61%—
BigCodeBench Instruct—45%
LMArena Coding1513—
BigCodeBench Complete—52.3%
ALE-Bench1,819—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.0 (#16), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
APEX-Agents75.5%—

Reasoning Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 54.0 (#28), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 19.2 (#266)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Epoch Capabilities Index165.03128.52
NYT Connections (extended)80.5%—
CritPt31.4%—
Chess Puzzles—0%
LMArena Hard Prompts1495—
Mystery Game Puzzles65%—

Math Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 87.9 (#6), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 16.2 (#296)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025100%7.4%
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)88.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 480.5%—
ProofBench100%—
LMArena Math1510—
MATH Level 5—56.1%
FrontierMath Erdős2.9%—

Knowledge Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#12), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: 24.9 (#266)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
GPQA Diamond95.6%46.1%
SimpleQA Verified46.5%—
LMArena Expert1540—

Multimodal Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 51.5 (#6), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
LMArena Vision1289—
Furniture Assembly75%—

Multilingual Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 55.3 (#30), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
LMArena Non-English1452—
LMArena Chinese1522—
LMArena Russian1451—

Instruction Following Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 78.3 (#11), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following1495—

Long Context Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.9 (#28), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
LMArena Longer Query1498—

Writing & Preference Not comparable

Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#40), Qwen2.5 32B Instruct: —

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5.5Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
LMArena Text1471—
LMArena Creative Writing1465—
LMArena Multi-Turn1474—

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 better than Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 30.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct costs 3.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Claude Sonnet 5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is cheaper. It lists at $0.70 per million input tokens and $2.80 per million output tokens; Claude Sonnet 5.5 lists at $2 and $10.

Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct better for coding?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 67.3 versus 38.7 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct share?

3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Claude Sonnet 5.5 has 32 scored results on Noometry and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct has 7.

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