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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek-V3 vs Qwen3 30B A3B vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 57, Qwen3 30B A3B 57, DeepSeek-V3 49). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-V3

    Released Dec 26, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI132.3
    • Price$0.32 / $1.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-V3

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.108 / $0.475
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B

  3. Meta

    Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI132.3
    • Price$0.245 / $0.838
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 57/100, Qwen3 30B A3B 57/100, DeepSeek-V3 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 30B A3BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 · DeepSeek-V3 132.3
  • Lowest priceQwen3 30B A3BQwen3 30B A3B $0.20 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct $0.393 · DeepSeek-V3 $0.515 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 1,000,000 · DeepSeek-V3 131,072 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructDeepSeek-V3: Text · Qwen3 30B A3B: Text · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-V3Qwen3 30B A3BLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%555955
Price25%618066
Inputs & features15%253550
Context window10%252560
Overall100%49/10057/10057/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-V3 vs Qwen3 30B A3B vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-V3DeepSeekQwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)132.3136.2 (best)132.3
ECI rank#136 of 165#126 of 165 (best)#135 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions56.5%61.7%67.0% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics15.8%62.8% (best)20.6%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.32$0.108 (best)$0.245
Output$1.10$0.475 (best)$0.838
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.515$0.20 (best)$0.393
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 8 providersMedian of 14 providersMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenDeepSeek Model LicenseOpenOpen
API model ID———
API providers81416 (best)
ReleasedDec 26, 2024Apr 28, 2025Apr 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——Aug 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-V3$5.40
  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.03
  • Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct$4.13
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-V3, Qwen3 30B A3B or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 57/100, Qwen3 30B A3B 57/100, DeepSeek-V3 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3, Qwen3 30B A3B or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?

Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.245 input / $0.838 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers); DeepSeek-V3 costs $0.32 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (median across 8 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 $0.393 for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (2× as much) and $0.515 for DeepSeek-V3 (2.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 30B A3B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 (#126 of 165), Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 (#135 of 165) and DeepSeek-V3 132.3 (#136 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.8–138.5 vs 128.6–134.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 67.0%, Qwen3 30B A3B 61.7%, DeepSeek-V3 56.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 30B A3B 62.8%, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 20.6%, DeepSeek-V3 15.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-V3, Qwen3 30B A3B and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 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. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-V3 and 131,072 for Qwen3 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-V3 up to 8,192, Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-V3 accepts text; Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text; Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct accepts text and images. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (DeepSeek Model License), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 30B A3B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025; DeepSeek-V3 came out Dec 26, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct Aug 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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