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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Grok Code Fast 1 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL Plus

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 49 and 48 on our weighted score.

  1. xAI

    Grok Code Fast 1

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.50
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Grok Code Fast 1

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
  3. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL Plus
01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). 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 priceGrok Code Fast 1Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3-VL PlusGrok Code Fast 1: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok Code Fast 1Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3-VL Plus
Price50%605760
Inputs & features30%355070
Context window20%362537
Overall100%48/10049/10058/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Grok Code Fast 1 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok Code Fast 1xAIQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20 (best)$0.30$0.20 (best)
Output$1.50 (best)$1.55$1.60
Cached input——$0.04
Blended (3:1)$0.525 (best)$0.613$0.55
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.30 / $2.40
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersMedian of 16 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window256,000 tokens131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output10,000 tokens32,768 tokens (best)32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenProprietary
API model ID——qwen3-vl-plus
API providers716 (best)6
ReleasedSep 2, 2025Sep 23, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 31, 2025Apr 2025
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.

  • Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok Code Fast 1, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). 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 Code Fast 1, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Grok Code Fast 1 is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); 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 $0.525 per million tokens for Grok Code Fast 1 versus $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1× as much) and $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet and Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok Code Fast 1, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3-VL Plus 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?

Qwen3-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1 and 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok Code Fast 1 and Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 2025, Qwen3-VL 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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