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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs solar-mini

solar-mini comes out ahead, 52 to 39 and 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    39/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    38/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B
  3. Our pick

    Upstage

    solar-mini

    Released Jun 12, 2024

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove solar-mini
01 — Verdict

solar-mini is our pick

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (39) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (38). It leads on price. 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 pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · solar-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Qwen3 235B-A22Bsolar-mini
Price50%474689
Inputs & features30%353525
Context window20%24240
Overall100%39/10038/10052/100

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.

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs solar-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)solar-miniUpstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0139.4 (best)—
ECI rank#104 of 148#103 of 148 (best)—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7% (best)70.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.70$0.15 (best)
Output$2.60$2.80$0.15 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.18$1.23$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Upstage API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-235b-a22bsolar-mini
API providers12 (best)71
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 28, 2025Jun 12, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Apr 2025Sep 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
  • solar-mini$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or solar-mini?

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (39) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (38). It leads on price. 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, DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or solar-mini?

solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). 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 $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (7.8× as much) and $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (8.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. DeepSeek-R1 has an ECI of 139.0, Qwen3 235B-A22B has an ECI of 139.4 and solar-mini has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B and solar-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 235B-A22B has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1 and 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3 235B-A22B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, solar-mini Sep 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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