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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs o3-deep-research

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 24 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    62/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
  2. OpenAI

    o3-deep-research

    Released Jun 26, 2025

    24/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$9.00 / $36.00
    • Context200K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is our pick

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against o3-deep-research (24). It leads on price. o3-deep-research wins on 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 priceQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct $0.063 · o3-deep-research $15.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contexto3-deep-researcho3-deep-research 200,000 · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputso3-deep-researchQwen2.5 7B Instruct: Text · o3-deep-research: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5 7B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 7B Instructo3-deep-research
Price50%1000
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%2532
Overall100%62/10024/100

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.

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs o3-deep-research specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)o3-deep-researchOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.5—
ECI rank#159 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions35.5%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics2.5%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$9.00
Output$0.10 (best)$36.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.063 (best)$15.75
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens200,000 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens100,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Proprietary
API model ID——
API providers4 (best)1
ReleasedSep 19, 2024Jun 26, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—May 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.

  • Qwen2.5 7B Instruct$0.70
  • o3-deep-research$162.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or o3-deep-research?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against o3-deep-research (24). It leads on price. o3-deep-research wins on 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, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or o3-deep-research?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). o3-deep-research costs $9.00 input / $36.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct versus $15.75 for o3-deep-research (252× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct has an ECI of 118.5 and o3-deep-research has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and o3-deep-research 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?

o3-deep-research has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct up to 8,192, o3-deep-research up to 100,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts text; o3-deep-research accepts text and images. o3-deep-research handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; o3-deep-research is proprietary.

Which is newer?

o3-deep-research is the newest, released Jun 26, 2025. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct came out Sep 19, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: o3-deep-research May 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 Nov 2, 2026.