DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 14B vs Qwen3.5 Plus
Qwen3.5 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 55 and 54 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-V3.1 is 33% cheaper per token.
DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3.1
55/100- ECI139.9
- Price$0.385 / $1.25
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 14B
54/100- ECI138.2
- Price$0.35 / $1.40
- Context131K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.5 Plus
66/100- ECI146.8
- Price$0.40 / $2.40
- Context1M
Qwen3.5 Plus is our pick
Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek-V3.1 (55) and Qwen3 14B (54). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityQwen3.5 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 · DeepSeek-V3.1 139.9 · Qwen3 14B 138.2
- Lowest priceDeepSeek-V3.1DeepSeek-V3.1 $0.601 · Qwen3 14B $0.613 · Qwen3.5 Plus $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 PlusQwen3.5 Plus 1,000,000 · DeepSeek-V3.1 131,072 · Qwen3 14B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 PlusDeepSeek-V3.1: Text · Qwen3 14B: Text · Qwen3.5 Plus: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingDeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 14BPublishes downloadable weights (MIT License)
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Qwen3 14B | Qwen3.5 Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 65 | 63 | 74 |
| Price | 25% | 60 | 60 | 52 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 24 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 55/100 | 54/100 | 66/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek-V3.1DeepSeek | Qwen3 14BAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.5 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 139.9 | 138.2 | 146.8 (best) |
| ECI rank | #100 of 148 | #107 of 148 | #65 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 63.8% | 84.9% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 66.4% | 86.7% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | — | 25.4% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.385 | $0.35 (best) | $0.40 |
| Output | $1.25 (best) | $1.40 | $2.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.601 (best) | $0.613 | $0.90 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 8 providers | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenMIT License | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | qwen3-14b | qwen3.5-plus |
| API providers | 8 | 1 | 10 (best) |
| Released | Aug 21, 2025 | Apr 29, 2025 | Feb 16, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- DeepSeek-V3.1$6.35
- Qwen3 14B$6.30
- Qwen3.5 Plus$8.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek-V3.1, Qwen3 14B or Qwen3.5 Plus?
Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek-V3.1 (55) and Qwen3 14B (54). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1, Qwen3 14B or Qwen3.5 Plus?
DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper at $0.385 input / $1.25 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). Qwen3 14B costs $0.35 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen3.5 Plus costs $0.40 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.601 per million tokens for DeepSeek-V3.1 versus $0.613 for Qwen3 14B (1× as much) and $0.90 for Qwen3.5 Plus (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Qwen3.5 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 (#65 of 148), DeepSeek-V3.1 139.9 (#100 of 148) and Qwen3 14B 138.2 (#107 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (144.6–148.1 vs 136.1–143.3), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-V3.1, Qwen3 14B and Qwen3.5 Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 Plus 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?
Qwen3.5 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-V3.1 and 131,072 for Qwen3 14B. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-V3.1 up to 8,192, Qwen3 14B up to 8,192, Qwen3.5 Plus up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek-V3.1 accepts text; Qwen3 14B accepts text; Qwen3.5 Plus accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.5 Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 14B publishes its weights (MIT License) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.5 Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.5 Plus is the newest, released Feb 16, 2026. DeepSeek-V3.1 came out Aug 21, 2025; Qwen3 14B came out Apr 29, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 14B Apr 2025, Qwen3.5 Plus Apr 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.
