Grok Code Fast 1 vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL Plus
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 58 and 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
xAIGrok Code Fast 1
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.50
- Context256K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-VL Plus
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is our pick
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (58) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). It leads on price. Qwen3-VL Plus 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 Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and Qwen3-VL PlusQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 · Qwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructGrok Code Fast 1: Text · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Grok Code Fast 1 | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct | Qwen3-VL Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 74 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 60 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 48/100 | 62/100 | 58/100 |
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 Code Fast 1xAI | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.15 (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $1.50 | $0.60 (best) | $1.60 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.04 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.525 | $0.263 (best) | $0.55 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.30 / $2.40 |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Median of 13 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 10,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | qwen3-vl-plus |
| API providers | 7 | 13 (best) | 6 |
| Released | Sep 2, 2025 | Oct 4, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | 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.
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
- Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok Code Fast 1, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (58) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). It leads on price. Qwen3-VL Plus 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 Code Fast 1, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). Grok Code Fast 1 costs $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). 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 $0.525 for Grok Code Fast 1 (2× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (2.1× 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 30B A3B 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 30B A3B 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 30B A3B Instruct and Qwen3-VL Plus have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1. Maximum output per response: Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B 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 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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 Code Fast 1 and Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 4, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
