Claude 3 Haiku vs Qwen Plus

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

Claude 3 Haiku

Anthropic

Cheapest Claude model. Fast responses for simple tasks and basic coding.

Input$0.250/M
Output$1.25/M
Context200K tokens
Best ForSimple queries, fast responses, cost-sensitive tasks
Benchmark45/100

Qwen Plus

Qwen

Balanced Qwen model for general tasks. Good price-performance ratio.

Input$0.400/M
Output$1.20/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForGeneral-purpose tasks, bilingual coding
Benchmark55/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.

BenchmarkClaude 3 HaikuQwen PlusLeader
Overall Score 45 55 Qwen Plus leads by 10pts
SWE-bench Verified 38 48 Qwen Plus leads by 10pts
LiveCodeBench 46 58 Qwen Plus leads by 12pts
HumanEval 68 78 Qwen Plus leads by 10pts
BigCodeBench 30 40 Qwen Plus leads by 10pts

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

ScenarioClaude 3 HaikuQwen PlusSavings
Small Script (1K lines) $0.05 $0.05 Claude 3 Haiku saves <$0.01 (8%)
Medium Feature (10K lines) $0.34 $0.38 Claude 3 Haiku saves $0.04 (11%)
Large Project (50K lines) $1.69 $1.90 Claude 3 Haiku saves $0.21 (11%)
Code Review (5K lines) $0.07 $0.10 Claude 3 Haiku saves $0.02 (25%)

Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)

Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.

ModelOverall ScorePrice per Score PointVerdict
Claude 3 Haiku 45 $0.006/pt Better value
Qwen Plus 55 $0.007/pt Higher cost per point

Claude 3 Haiku delivers the best value at $0.006 per score point.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Claude 3 Haiku

  • + Very cheap
  • + Fast
  • - Basic capability only

Qwen Plus

  • + Budget-friendly
  • - Average performance

Verdict

Claude 3 Haiku is cheaper at $0.250/M, but Qwen Plus scores higher on benchmarks (55 vs 45).

Choose Claude 3 Haiku for cost-sensitive projects, Qwen Plus when performance matters most.

Compare with Other Models