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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct vs Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B comes out ahead, 59 to 45 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct

    Released Nov 12, 2024

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.43 / $0.60
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct
  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 Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct (45). 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 priceQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 · Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct $0.473 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct 131,072 · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct: Text · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructQwen3-VL 30B-A3B
Price50%6572
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%2424
Overall100%45/10059/100

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.

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct vs Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5-Coder-32B-InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.43$0.20 (best)
Output$0.60 (best)$0.80
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.473$0.35 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—qwen3-vl-30b-a3b
API providers4 (best)1
ReleasedNov 12, 2024Apr 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.

  • Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct$5.50
  • Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B$3.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct or Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct (45). 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, Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct 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). Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct costs $0.43 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). 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 $0.473 for Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct 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 Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct and Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct and Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct up to 8,192, Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct accepts text; Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 2025. Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct came out Nov 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: 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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