Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507
Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 comes out ahead, 59 to 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507
59/100- ECI137.3
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507
55/100- ECI143.8
- Price$0.30 / $2.90
- Context262K
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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 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 262,144 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 | Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 61 | 69 |
| Price | 25% | 85 | 49 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 59/100 | 55/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Alibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 137.3 | 143.8 (best) |
| ECI rank | #124 of 165 | #93 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 55.6% | 80.1% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 62.2% | 86.7% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 40.4% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $0.30 (best) | $2.90 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $0.95 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 12 providers | Median of 11 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 81,920 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 14 (best) | 12 |
| Released | Jul 28, 2025 | Jul 25, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507$1.60
- Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507$8.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 or Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 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 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 or Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 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 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 and Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 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 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 and Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384, Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 up to 81,920 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 30B-A3B Instruct 2507 accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 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.
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