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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 vs Palmyra X5 vs GPT OSS 120B

GPT OSS 120B comes out ahead, 57 to 52 and 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507

    Released Jul 21, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI138.9
    • Price$0.15 / $0.75
    • Context262K
  2. Writer

    Palmyra X5

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.60 / $6.00
    • Context1M
  3. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT OSS 120B

    Released Aug 5, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI140.0
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

GPT OSS 120B is our pick

GPT OSS 120B is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (52) and Palmyra X5 (48). It leads on price. Palmyra X5 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 priceGPT OSS 120BGPT OSS 120B $0.263 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 $0.30 · Palmyra X5 $1.95 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextPalmyra X5Palmyra X5 1,000,000 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 262,144 · GPT OSS 120B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsPalmyra X5Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507: Text · Palmyra X5: Text, Images · GPT OSS 120B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and GPT OSS 120BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Palmyra X5GPT OSS 120B
Price50%753677
Inputs & features30%256045
Context window20%376024
Overall100%52/10048/10057/100

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.

Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 vs Palmyra X5 vs GPT OSS 120B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen)Palmyra X5WriterGPT OSS 120BOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)138.9—140.0 (best)
ECI rank#105 of 148—#99 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions——75.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics——88.9%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.60$0.15 (best)
Output$0.75$6.00$0.60 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.30$1.95$0.263 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersMedian of 1 providersMedian of 36 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens8,192 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0ProprietaryOpen
API model ID———
API providers11139 (best)
ReleasedJul 21, 2025Apr 28, 2025Aug 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoff———
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.

  • Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507$3.00
  • Palmyra X5$18.00
  • GPT OSS 120B$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507, Palmyra X5 or GPT OSS 120B?

GPT OSS 120B is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (52) and Palmyra X5 (48). It leads on price. Palmyra X5 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, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507, Palmyra X5 or GPT OSS 120B?

GPT OSS 120B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 36 API providers). Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 costs $0.15 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers); Palmyra X5 costs $0.60 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for GPT OSS 120B versus $0.30 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (1.1× as much) and $1.95 for Palmyra X5 (7.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 has an ECI of 138.9, Palmyra X5 has not been scored yet and GPT OSS 120B has an ECI of 140.0.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507, Palmyra X5 and GPT OSS 120B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Palmyra X5 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and 131,072 for GPT OSS 120B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384, Palmyra X5 up to 8,192, GPT OSS 120B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 accepts text; Palmyra X5 accepts text and images; GPT OSS 120B accepts text. Palmyra X5 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and GPT OSS 120B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Palmyra X5 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT OSS 120B is the newest, released Aug 5, 2025. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 came out Jul 21, 2025; Palmyra X5 came out Apr 28, 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.