Model comparison
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking
Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude 3.5 Sonnet #132 (Estimated); Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking share 1 comparable benchmark result. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 3 results are unique to Claude 3.5 Sonnet; 4 to Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 1
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet only
- 3
- Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking only
- 4
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Treat this as a split decision. Claude 3.5 Sonnet makes more sense if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 200K context window; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking is the better fit if you want the stronger reasoning-first profile.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 1 shared benchmark result across 1 evidence category; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.
Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking is the reasoning model in the pair, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Claude 3.5 Sonnet gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Δ | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Claude 3.5 Sonnet59.4 | Margin← 1.8 | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking57.6 |
| Coding | Claude 3.5 Sonnet49.0 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
| Math | Claude 3.5 Sonnet1.6 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
| Inst. Following | Claude 3.5 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking76.5 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
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- Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 59.4%B 57.6%Winner: Claude 3.5 SonnetΔ 1.8GPQA: Claude 3.5 Sonnet scored 59.4%; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking scored 57.6%. Claude 3.5 Sonnet wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude 3.5 Sonnet$3 input / $15 output | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude 3.5 SonnetNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude 3.5 SonnetNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude 3.5 Sonnet200K | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking128K | Claude 3.5 Sonnet lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| BFCL v4Source | — | 45.6% | Not comparable |
Coding1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 49% | — | Not comparable |
KnowledgeClaude 3.5 Sonnet wins3 benchmarks
Math2 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFEvalSource | — | 76.5% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 59.4 versus 57.6. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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