API cost decision in 10 seconds

Claude Opus Latest vs Qwen3.5-9B

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick Claude Opus Latest only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-9B for lower cost; pick Claude Opus Latest only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest, saving $17.39 (99.3% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-9B

Context-first pickClaude Opus Latest

Sample savings$17.3999.3%

10x traffic gap$173.85

Claude Opus Latest has more context, but Qwen3.5-9B saves $17.39 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $173.85. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3.5-9B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Claude Opus Latest	Qwen3.5-9B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3.5-9B	$37.5	$0.28
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$30	$0.19
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3.5-9B	$130	$0.79

Cheaper input Qwen3.5-9B $5 vs $0.04 / 1M

Qwen3.5-9B is $4.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.2% lower; 125x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5-9B $25 vs $0.15 / 1M

Qwen3.5-9B is $24.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.4% lower; 166.7x difference).

Larger context Claude Opus Latest 1M vs 262.14K

Claude Opus Latest has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-9B $17.5 vs $0.11

Qwen3.5-9B is $17.39 cheaper on the standard workload (99.3% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Claude Opus Latest Calculating… Estimated API cost

Qwen3.5-9B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Qwen3.5-9B has the lower input price; Qwen3.5-9B has the lower output price; Claude Opus Latest offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest and $0.11 for Qwen3.5-9B.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Opus Latest when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Qwen3.5-9B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest, saving $17.39 (99.3% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $17.39 cheaper on the standard workload (99.3% lower).
Qwen3.5-9B is $4.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.2% lower; 125x difference).
Qwen3.5-9B is $24.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.4% lower; 166.7x difference).
Claude Opus Latest has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Claude Opus Latest (Anthropic)	Qwen3.5-9B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$5	$0.04
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$25	$0.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$17.5	$0.11
Context Window	1M	262.14K
Release Date	2026-04-21	2026-03-10

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3.5-9B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-9B is estimated at $0.11 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest, saving $17.39 (99.3% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3.5-9B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Qwen3.5-9B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Claude Opus Latest	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Opus Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Claude Opus Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.
Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Opus Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
Claude Haiku 4.5 can replace Claude Opus Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
OpenAI GPT Latest offers 1.05M context with $20 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

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Anthropic catalog

Review all tracked Anthropic models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Qwen catalog

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Claude Opus Latest

This model always redirects to the latest model in the Claude Opus family.

Qwen3.5-9B

Qwen3.5-9B is a multimodal foundation model from the Qwen3.5 family, designed to deliver strong reasoning, coding, and visual understanding in an efficient 9B-parameter architecture. It uses a unified vision-language design...