Grok 4.1 Fast vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Grok 4.1 Fast comes out ahead, 66 to 62 and 49 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
66/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.55
- Context131K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context262K
Grok 4.1 Fast is our pick
Grok 4.1 Fast is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49). It leads on context window. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins 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 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 FastGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructGrok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.1 Fast | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 73 | 57 | 74 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 50 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 72 | 25 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 66/100 | 49/100 | 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 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.30 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.50 (best) | $1.55 | $0.60 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.275 | $0.613 | $0.263 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 6 providers | Median of 16 providers | Median of 13 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 30,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 8 | 16 (best) | 13 |
| Released | Nov 19, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 | Oct 4, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Mar 31, 2025 | — |
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
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.1 Fast, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?
Grok 4.1 Fast is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49). It leads on context window. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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); Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 16 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 $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (2.3× 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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 has the largest context window at 2,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, 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; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.1 Fast is the newest, released Nov 19, 2025. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct came out Oct 4, 2025; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 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.
