GLM-4.5-Air vs Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B vs Seed 1.6 Vision
Seed 1.6 Vision comes out ahead, 63 to 59 and 49 on our weighted score, though Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is 9% cheaper per token.
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.5-Air
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.10
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B
59/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.80
- Context131K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Vision
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
Seed 1.6 Vision is our pick
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59) and GLM-4.5-Air (49). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B wins 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 priceQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 · Seed 1.6 Vision $0.386 · GLM-4.5-Air $0.425 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSeed 1.6 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision 256,000 · GLM-4.5-Air 131,072 · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL 30B-A3B and Seed 1.6 VisionGLM-4.5-Air: Text · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images · Seed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images
- Self-hostingGLM-4.5-Air and Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GLM-4.5-Air | Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B | Seed 1.6 Vision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 68 | 72 | 69 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 60 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 59/100 | 63/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu) | Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | Seed 1.6 VisionByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.20 | $0.119 (best) |
| Output | $1.10 | $0.80 (best) | $1.19 |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — | $0.024 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.425 | $0.35 (best) | $0.386 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Official Alibaba API | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 98,304 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 32,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | glm-4.5-air | qwen3-vl-30b-a3b | doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815 |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Jul 28, 2025 | Apr 2025 | Aug 15, 2025 |
| 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.
- GLM-4.5-Air$4.20
- Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B$3.60
- Seed 1.6 Vision$3.56
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-4.5-Air, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B or Seed 1.6 Vision?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59) and GLM-4.5-Air (49). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B wins 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, GLM-4.5-Air, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B or Seed 1.6 Vision?
Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Seed 1.6 Vision costs $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); GLM-4.5-Air costs $0.20 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.35 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B versus $0.386 for Seed 1.6 Vision (1.1× as much) and $0.425 for GLM-4.5-Air (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GLM-4.5-Air has not been scored yet, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B has not been scored yet and Seed 1.6 Vision has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-4.5-Air, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B and Seed 1.6 Vision 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?
Seed 1.6 Vision has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 131,072 for GLM-4.5-Air and 131,072 for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B. Maximum output per response: GLM-4.5-Air up to 98,304, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768, Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-4.5-Air accepts text; Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images; Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
GLM-4.5-Air and Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 Vision is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the newest, released Aug 15, 2025. GLM-4.5-Air came out Jul 28, 2025; Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B came out Apr 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.5-Air Apr 2025, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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.
