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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) vs Qwen3-VL Plus vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 44 and 24 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Aion Labs

    Aion-RP 1.0 (8B)

    Released Feb 4, 2025

    24/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.80 / $1.60
    • Context33K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct

    Released Jan 26, 2025

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.905 / $1.00
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (44) and Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) (24). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct $0.93 · Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 131,072 · Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL Plus and Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAion-RP 1.0 (8B): Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAion-RP 1.0 (8B) and Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightAion-RP 1.0 (8B)Qwen3-VL PlusQwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct
Price50%486049
Inputs & features30%07050
Context window20%03725
Overall100%24/10058/10044/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) vs Qwen3-VL Plus vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationAion-RP 1.0 (8B)Aion LabsQwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.80$0.20 (best)$0.905
Output$1.60$1.60$1.00 (best)
Cached input—$0.04—
Blended (3:1)$1.00$0.55 (best)$0.93
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.30 / $2.40Same rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 6 providers
Limits
Context window32,768 tokens262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output29,491 tokens32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingNoYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model ID—qwen3-vl-plus—
API providers46 (best)6 (best)
ReleasedFeb 4, 2025Sep 23, 2025Jan 26, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 31, 2023Apr 2025Apr 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Aion-RP 1.0 (8B)$11.20
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
  • Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct$11.06
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Aion-RP 1.0 (8B), Qwen3-VL Plus or Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (44) and Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) (24). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Aion-RP 1.0 (8B), Qwen3-VL Plus or Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct?

Qwen3-VL Plus is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct costs $0.905 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers); Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) costs $0.80 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.55 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL Plus versus $0.93 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (1.7× as much) and $1.00 for Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) has not been scored yet, Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Aion-RP 1.0 (8B), Qwen3-VL Plus and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct and 32,768 for Aion-RP 1.0 (8B). Maximum output per response: Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) up to 29,491, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) came out Feb 4, 2025; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct came out Jan 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Aion-RP 1.0 (8B) Dec 31, 2023, Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 2025, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct Apr 2024.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.