Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct vs QVQ Max
QVQ Max comes out ahead, 40 to 30 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct
30/100- ECI—
- Price$2.80 / $8.40
- Context131K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
QVQ Max
40/100- ECI—
- Price$1.20 / $4.80
- Context131K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
QVQ Max is our pick
QVQ Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 40/100 against Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (30). 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 priceQVQ MaxQVQ Max $2.10 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct $4.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameQwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 131,072 · QVQ Max 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct: Text, Images · QVQ Max: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct | QVQ Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 20 | 35 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 30/100 | 40/100 |
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 | Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | QVQ MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.80 | $1.20 (best) |
| Output | $8.40 | $4.80 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $4.20 | $2.10 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen2-5-vl-72b-instruct | qvq-max |
| API providers | 1 | 1 |
| Released | Sep 2024 | Mar 25, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
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-VL 72B Instruct$44.80
- QVQ Max$21.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct or QVQ Max?
QVQ Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 40/100 against Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (30). 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-VL 72B Instruct or QVQ Max?
QVQ Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $4.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct costs $2.80 input / $8.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.10 per million tokens for QVQ Max versus $4.20 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct has not been scored yet and QVQ Max has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct and QVQ Max 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-VL 72B Instruct and QVQ Max share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct up to 8,192, QVQ Max up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct accepts text and images; QVQ Max accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; QVQ Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
QVQ Max is the newest, released Mar 25, 2025. Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct came out Sep 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct Apr 2024, QVQ Max 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.
