Qwen Flash vs Qwen3 Coder Plus
Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 68 to 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- 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
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen Flash is our pick
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and 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 · Qwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · Qwen Flash 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen Flash: Text · Qwen3 Coder Plus: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen Flash | Qwen3 Coder Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 91 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 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 | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.05 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $0.40 (best) | $5.00 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.138 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen-flash | qwen3-coder-plus |
| API providers | 6 | 11 (best) |
| Released | 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.
- Qwen Flash$1.30
- Qwen3 Coder Plus$20.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen Flash or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and 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, Qwen Flash or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $2.00 for Qwen3 Coder Plus (15× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models 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 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. Both 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 Qwen Flash. Maximum output per response: Qwen Flash up to 32,768, Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen Flash accepts text; Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. 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. 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.
