Palmyra X5 vs Qwen Flash vs Qwen3 Coder Plus
Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 68 to 48 and 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Writer
Palmyra X5
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $6.00
- Context1M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 Coder Plus
37/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $5.00
- Context1.05M
Qwen Flash is our pick
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Palmyra X5 (48) and Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price. Palmyra X5 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 priceQwen FlashQwen Flash $0.138 · Palmyra X5 $1.95 · Qwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · Palmyra X5 1,000,000 · Qwen Flash 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsPalmyra X5Palmyra X5: Text, Images · Qwen Flash: Text · Qwen3 Coder Plus: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Palmyra X5 | Qwen Flash | Qwen3 Coder Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 36 | 91 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 48/100 | 68/100 | 37/100 |
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 | Palmyra X5Writer | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.60 | $0.05 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $6.00 | $0.40 (best) | $5.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.95 | $0.138 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | qwen-flash | qwen3-coder-plus |
| API providers | 1 | 6 | 11 (best) |
| Released | Apr 28, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 | Jul 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2024 | 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.
- Palmyra X5$18.00
- Qwen Flash$1.30
- Qwen3 Coder Plus$20.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Palmyra X5, Qwen Flash or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Palmyra X5 (48) and Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price. Palmyra X5 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, Palmyra X5, Qwen Flash or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Palmyra X5 costs $0.60 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Qwen3 Coder Plus costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for Qwen Flash versus $1.95 for Palmyra X5 (14× as much) and $2.00 for Qwen3 Coder Plus (15× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Palmyra X5 has not been scored yet, Qwen Flash has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Coder Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Palmyra X5, Qwen Flash and Qwen3 Coder 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 Coder Plus has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Palmyra X5 and 1,000,000 for Qwen Flash. Maximum output per response: Palmyra X5 up to 8,192, Qwen Flash up to 32,768, Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Palmyra X5 accepts text and images; Qwen Flash accepts text; Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text. Palmyra X5 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Palmyra X5, Qwen Flash and Qwen3 Coder Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. Qwen3 Coder Plus came out Jul 23, 2025; Palmyra X5 came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Flash Apr 2024, Qwen3 Coder 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 Oct 4, 2026.
