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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Pixtral Large (25.02) vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct comes out ahead, 39 to 33 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Pixtral Large (25.02)

    Released Apr 8, 2025

    33/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Pixtral Large (25.02)
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

    Released Sep 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33). It leads on price. Pixtral Large (25.02) 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-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct $0.875 · Pixtral Large (25.02) $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 131,072 · Pixtral Large (25.02) 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsPixtral Large (25.02)Pixtral Large (25.02): Text, Images · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightPixtral Large (25.02)Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct
Price50%2753
Inputs & features30%5025
Context window20%2424
Overall100%33/10039/100

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.

Pixtral Large (25.02) vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationPixtral Large (25.02)Mistral AIQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.50 (best)
Output$6.00$2.00 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.875 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model ID—qwen3-next-80b-a3b-instruct
API providers313 (best)
ReleasedApr 8, 2025Sep 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 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.

  • Pixtral Large (25.02)$32.00
  • Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct$9.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Pixtral Large (25.02) or Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33). It leads on price. Pixtral Large (25.02) 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, Pixtral Large (25.02) or Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Pixtral Large (25.02) costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.875 per million tokens for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct versus $3.00 for Pixtral Large (25.02) (3.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Pixtral Large (25.02) has not been scored yet and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Pixtral Large (25.02) and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Pixtral Large (25.02). Maximum output per response: Pixtral Large (25.02) up to 8,192, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Pixtral Large (25.02) accepts text and images; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct accepts text. Pixtral Large (25.02) handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Pixtral Large (25.02) is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 2025. Pixtral Large (25.02) came out Apr 8, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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