Grok 4.1 Fast vs Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning comes out ahead, 72 to 66 and 62 on our weighted score.
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
66/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
- Our pickxAI
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning
72/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context262K
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning is our pick
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (66) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62). It leads on inputs & features. 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 A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct $0.263 · Grok 4.1 Fast $0.275 · Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 Fast and Grok 4 Fast Non ReasoningGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning 2,000,000 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4 Fast Non ReasoningGrok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images · Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.1 Fast | Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 73 | 73 | 74 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 70 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 72 | 72 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 66/100 | 72/100 | 62/100 |
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 | Grok 4.1 FastxAI | Grok 4 Fast Non ReasoningxAI | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.20 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.50 (best) | $0.50 (best) | $0.60 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.275 | $0.275 | $0.263 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 6 providers | Median of 7 providers | Median of 13 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 30,000 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 8 | 8 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Nov 19, 2025 | Dec 18, 2025 | Oct 4, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
- Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning$3.00
- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.1 Fast, Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (66) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Grok 4.1 Fast, Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). Grok 4.1 Fast costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers); Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct versus $0.275 for Grok 4.1 Fast (1× as much) and $0.275 for Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Grok 4.1 Fast has not been scored yet, Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.1 Fast, Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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?
Grok 4.1 Fast and Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning have the largest context windows (2,000,000 and 2,000,000 tokens), against 262,144 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000, Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning up to 2,000,000, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.1 Fast accepts text and images; Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning accepts text, images, audio and video; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video. Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.1 Fast and Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4 Fast Non Reasoning is the newest, released Dec 18, 2025. Grok 4.1 Fast came out Nov 19, 2025; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct came out Oct 4, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
