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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen-VL OCR vs Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B comes out ahead, 59 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
    Full specs Remove Qwen-VL OCR
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

    Released Apr 2025

    59/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is our pick

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on price, inputs & features 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 priceQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 · Qwen-VL OCR $0.72 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 · Qwen-VL OCR 34,096 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen-VL OCR: Text, Images · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3-VL 30B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen-VL OCRQwen3-VL 30B-A3B
Price50%5772
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%124
Overall100%36/10059/100

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 Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen-VL OCRAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.72$0.20 (best)
Output$0.72 (best)$0.80
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.72$0.35 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window34,096 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen-vl-ocrqwen3-vl-30b-a3b
API providers11
ReleasedOct 28, 2024Apr 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 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.

  • Qwen-VL OCR$8.64
  • Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B$3.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen-VL OCR or Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on price, inputs & features 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 Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $0.35 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B versus $0.72 for Qwen-VL OCR (2.1× 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 Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen-VL OCR and Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen-VL OCR accepts text and images; Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen-VL OCR is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 2025. Qwen-VL OCR came out Oct 28, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen-VL OCR Apr 2024, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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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