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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 vs Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 comes out ahead, 59 to 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507

    Released Jul 25, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI143.8
    • Price$0.30 / $2.90
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    59/100
    • ECI137.3
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is our pick

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (55). It leads on price. Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 143.8 · Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 137.3
  • Lowest priceQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 $0.15 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 $0.95 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 262,144 · Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507: Text · Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6961
Price25%4985
Inputs & features15%3525
Context window10%3737
Overall100%55/10059/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 vs Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)143.8 (best)137.3
ECI rank#93 of 165 (best)#124 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions80.1% (best)55.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics86.7% (best)62.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions40.4%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.10 (best)
Output$2.90$0.30 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.95$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersMedian of 12 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output81,920 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0OpenApache 2.0
API model ID——
API providers1214 (best)
ReleasedJul 25, 2025Jul 28, 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 Thinking 2507$8.80
  • Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 or Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (55). It leads on price. Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 or Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 costs $0.30 input / $2.90 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 versus $0.95 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (6.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 143.8 (#93 of 165) and Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 137.3 (#124 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (141.9–145.2 vs 131.7–139.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 80.1%, Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 55.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 86.7%, Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 62.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 and Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 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?

Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 and Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 up to 81,920, Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 accepts text; Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 came out Jul 25, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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