Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20
Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 comes out ahead, 67 to 57 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is 2× cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507
57/100- ECI138.8
- Price$0.199 / $0.60
- Context262K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20
67/100- ECI141.5
- Price$0.146 / $1.96
- Context1.05M
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Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 141.5 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 138.8
- Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 $0.299 · Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 $0.60 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 1,048,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Publishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 63 | 66 |
| Price | 25% | 72 | 58 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 67/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen) | Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Google |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 138.8 | 141.5 (best) |
| ECI rank | #118 of 165 | #106 of 165 (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 70.8% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.199 | $0.146 (best) |
| Output | $0.60 (best) | $1.96 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.299 (best) | $0.60 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 23 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 25 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2025 | May 20, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jan 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507$3.19
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20$5.39
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is cheaper at $0.199 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 23 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 costs $0.146 input / $1.96 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.299 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 versus $0.60 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 141.5 (#106 of 165) and Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 138.8 (#118 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (139.3–142.9 vs 135.5–140.9), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is the newest, released Jul 21, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 came out May 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 Jan 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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