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Head-to-head comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 27B

Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) and Qwen3.8 27B (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Claude Sonnet 5 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#13 vs #16); Qwen3.8 27B is 3.1× cheaper per output token ($3.20/1M vs $10.00/1M); Claude Sonnet 5 offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens); and Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Claude Sonnet 5 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #13 against #16 (73.7 vs 69.6 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 3.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 55.3 against 52.0.

Choose Qwen3.8 27B if…

  • API cost matters — $3.20/1M output tokens against $10.00/1M, about 3.1× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.45/1M against $2.00/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights while Claude Sonnet 5 is api only.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.8 27B was listed 14 August 2026, Claude Sonnet 5 30 June 2026.

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 27B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Claude Sonnet 5 and Qwen3.8 27B
FieldClaude Sonnet 5AnthropicQwen3.8 27BQwen
ModelCap Index position#13#16
Index score73.769.6
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$2.00$0.45
Output price / 1M tokens$10.00$3.20
Context window1M tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens128K131K
API providers listed53
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileText, Image, Video
First listed30 June 202614 August 2026
PublisherAnthropicQwen

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 27B

Public benchmark boards where Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen3.8 27B has a published result
BoardClaude Sonnet 5Qwen3.8 27BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)15231514–1531High—Only one result
LMArena AgentLMArena7.1%4.9%–9.4%High—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis55.3intelligence-index52.0intelligence-indexClaude Sonnet 5

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 27B: common questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Qwen3.8 27B?

Claude Sonnet 5 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #13 against #16. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper on output tokens: $3.20/1M against $10.00/1M. Input tokens are $2.00/1M for Claude Sonnet 5 and $0.45/1M for Qwen3.8 27B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen3.8 27B?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Qwen3.8 27B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Claude Sonnet 5 and Qwen3.8 27B open-weight models?

Claude Sonnet 5: API only. Qwen3.8 27B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Claude Sonnet 5 and Qwen3.8 27B?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Claude Sonnet 5 and 3 for Qwen3.8 27B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 27B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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