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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen-VL OCR vs Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct comes out ahead, 45 to 36 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen-VL OCR

    Released Oct 28, 2024

    36/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.72 / $0.72
    • Context34K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct

    Released Nov 12, 2024

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.43 / $0.60
    • Context131K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct is our pick

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 45/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on price and context window. 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 priceQwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructQwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct $0.473 · Qwen-VL OCR $0.72 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructQwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct 131,072 · Qwen-VL OCR 34,096 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen-VL OCRQwen-VL OCR: Text, Images · Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen-VL OCRQwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct
Price50%5765
Inputs & features30%2525
Context window20%124
Overall100%36/10045/100

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.

Qwen-VL OCR vs Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen-VL OCRAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.72$0.43 (best)
Output$0.72$0.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.72$0.473 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 4 providers
Limits
Context window34,096 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens8,192 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen-vl-ocr—
API providers14 (best)
ReleasedOct 28, 2024Nov 12, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024—
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.

  • Qwen-VL OCR$8.64
  • Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct$5.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen-VL OCR or Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 45/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on price and context window. 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-VL OCR or Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.43 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). Qwen-VL OCR costs $0.72 input / $0.72 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.473 per million tokens for Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct versus $0.72 for Qwen-VL OCR (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen-VL OCR has not been scored yet and Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen-VL OCR and Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen-VL OCR does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 34,096 for Qwen-VL OCR. Maximum output per response: Qwen-VL OCR up to 4,096, Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen-VL OCR accepts text and images; Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct accepts text. Qwen-VL OCR handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen-VL OCR is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct is the newest, released Nov 12, 2024. Qwen-VL OCR came out Oct 28, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen-VL OCR Apr 2024.

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.