Qwen 2.5 VL 72B vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)

Compare Qwen 2.5 VL 72B and Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking): pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

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Feature Qwen 2.5 VL 72B Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)
CategoryVisionReasoning
Parameters72B~500B
Context Window128K200K
Input Price$0.05/1M tokens$0.03/1M tokens
Output Price$0.10/1M tokens$0.15/1M tokens
Latency~400ms~600ms

Choose Qwen 2.5 VL 72B when:

  • ✓ Document analysis
  • ✓ Chart reading
  • ✓ Visual Q&A
Key Strengths:

Vision + language, Strong Asian text OCR, Good reasoning

Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) when:

  • ✓ Complex analysis
  • ✓ Multi-step logic
  • ✓ Verification tasks
Key Strengths:

Transparent thinking, Strong reasoning, Self-correction

Verdict: Qwen 2.5 VL 72B vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)

For cost efficiency, Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) wins at $0.03/1M input tokens. For speed, Qwen 2.5 VL 72B is faster at ~400ms. Qwen 2.5 VL 72B excels at Document analysis while Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) is better for Complex analysis. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

Qwen 2.5 VL 72B costs $0.05/1M input tokens and $0.10/1M output tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) costs $0.03 input and $0.15 output. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) is 1.7x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

Qwen 2.5 VL 72B has a 128K context window with ~400ms latency. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) offers 200K context at ~600ms. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) has the larger context window.

Best For

Qwen 2.5 VL 72B (Vision) is optimized for: Document analysis, Chart reading, Visual Q&A. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) (Reasoning) works best for: Complex analysis, Multi-step logic, Verification tasks.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use Qwen 2.5 VL 72B
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="qwen-2-5-vl-72b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="claude-3-5-sonnet-thinking",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

Start Building with XALEN

200+ AI models. One API. Pay-as-you-go.

Get API Key Try in Playground

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Qwen 2.5 VL 72B or Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)?

Qwen 2.5 VL 72B (Vision, 72B) offers Vision + language. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) (Reasoning, ~500B) offers Transparent thinking. Choose Qwen 2.5 VL 72B for Document analysis or Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) for Complex analysis.

How much does Qwen 2.5 VL 72B cost vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking)?

Qwen 2.5 VL 72B: $0.05/1M input, $0.10/1M output. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking): $0.03/1M input, $0.15/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between Qwen 2.5 VL 72B and Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Thinking) by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.