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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs Qwen3 30B A3B

Qwen3 30B A3B comes out ahead, 52 to 45 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price—
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.108 / $0.475
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 30B A3B is our pick

Qwen3 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (45). It leads on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityQwen3 30B A3BShared benchmarks: Qwen3 30B A3B 62.2% · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 59.9%
  • Lowest priceQwen3 30B A3BQwen3 30B A3B $0.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B unpriced
  • Longest contextAbout the sameDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 131,072 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B: Text · Qwen3 30B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BQwen3 30B A3B
CapabilityShared benchmarks67%6062
Inputs & features20%1035
Context window13%2525
Overall100%45/10052/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. 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.

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs Qwen3 30B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BDeepSeekQwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—136.2
ECI rank—#126 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions64.1% (best)61.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics55.6%62.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input—$0.108
Output—$0.475
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)—$0.20
Long-context rate—Same rate
Price source—Median of 14 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers—14
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B—
  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.03
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Qwen3 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (45). It leads on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.20 per million tokens for Qwen3 30B A3B versus . DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Qwen3 30B A3B 62.2% and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 59.9%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%, Qwen3 30B A3B 61.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 30B A3B 62.8%, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 55.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B and Qwen3 30B A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 30B A3B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B and Qwen3 30B A3B share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B up to 32,768, Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B accepts text; Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 30B A3B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B came out Jan 20, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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