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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Apertus 70B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct comes out ahead, 53 to 33 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Swiss AI

    Apertus 70B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    33/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.82 / $2.42
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove Apertus 70B
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Apertus 70B (33). 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 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 · Apertus 70B $1.22 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructApertus 70B: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightApertus 70BQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Price50%4660
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%1224
Overall100%33/10053/100

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.

Apertus 70B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationApertus 70BSwiss AIQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.82$0.30 (best)
Output$2.42$1.55 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$1.22$0.613 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 12 providers
Limits
Context window65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID——
API providers312 (best)
ReleasedSep 2, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2025Mar 31, 2025
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.

  • Apertus 70B$13.04
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Apertus 70B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Apertus 70B (33). 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, Apertus 70B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). Apertus 70B costs $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.613 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct versus $1.22 for Apertus 70B (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Apertus 70B has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 70B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 70B up to 8,192, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Apertus 70B accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 70B Sep 2025, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 2025.

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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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