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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs QwQ 32B

Too close to call on our weighted score (QwQ 32B 53, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51, DeepSeek-R1 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ 32B

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI137.6
    • Price$0.66 / $1.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove QwQ 32B
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (QwQ 32B 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and QwQ 32B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0 · QwQ 32B 137.6
  • Lowest priceQwQ 32BQwQ 32B $0.745 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 235B-A22B and QwQ 32BQwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 · QwQ 32B 131,072 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · QwQ 32B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Qwen3 235B-A22BQwQ 32B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%646562
Price25%474656
Inputs & features15%353535
Context window10%242424
Overall100%51/10051/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs QwQ 32B specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0139.4 (best)137.6
ECI rank#104 of 148#103 of 148 (best)#109 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7% (best)70.7%65.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%—59.2% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.70$0.66 (best)
Output$2.60$2.80$1.00 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.18$1.23$0.745 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID—qwen3-235b-a22b—
API providers12 (best)71
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 28, 2025Mar 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Apr 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.

  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
  • Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
  • QwQ 32B$8.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or QwQ 32B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (QwQ 32B 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and QwQ 32B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or QwQ 32B?

QwQ 32B is cheaper at $0.66 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers); Qwen3 235B-A22B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.745 per million tokens for QwQ 32B versus $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (1.6× as much) and $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 235B-A22B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148), DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148) and QwQ 32B 137.6 (#109 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.2–140.8 vs 136.2–140.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek-R1 71.7%, Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%, QwQ 32B 65.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B and QwQ 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 235B-A22B and QwQ 32B have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, QwQ 32B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; QwQ 32B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, QwQ 32B 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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