Qwen3 30B A3B vs Rnj-1 Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 comes out ahead, 78 to 55 and 50 on our weighted score, though Rnj-1 Instruct is 29% cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 30B A3B
55/100- ECI136.2
- Price$0.108 / $0.475
- Context131K
Essential AI
Rnj-1 Instruct
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17
78/100- ECI133.8
- Price$0.12 / $0.48
- Context1.05M
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Qwen3 30B A3B (55) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Rnj-1 Instruct wins on price. 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 priceRnj-1 InstructRnj-1 Instruct $0.15 · Qwen3 30B A3B $0.20 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 $0.21 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 1,048,576 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 · Rnj-1 Instruct 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Qwen3 30B A3B: Text · Rnj-1 Instruct: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 30B A3B and Rnj-1 InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 30B A3B | Rnj-1 Instruct | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 80 | 85 | 79 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 | 90 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 0 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 55/100 | 50/100 | 78/100 |
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 | Qwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | Rnj-1 InstructEssential AI | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Google |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 136.2 (best) | — | 133.8 |
| ECI rank | #126 of 165 (best) | — | #132 of 165 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 61.7% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 62.8% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.108 (best) | $0.15 | $0.12 |
| Output | $0.475 | $0.15 (best) | $0.48 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.20 | $0.15 (best) | $0.21 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 14 providers | Median of 1 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 14 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Apr 28, 2025 | Dec 4, 2025 | Jun 17, 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 30B A3B$2.03
- Rnj-1 Instruct$1.80
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17$2.16
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 30B A3B, Rnj-1 Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Qwen3 30B A3B (55) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Rnj-1 Instruct wins on price. 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 30B A3B, Rnj-1 Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17?
Rnj-1 Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3 30B A3B costs $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 costs $0.12 input / $0.48 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Rnj-1 Instruct versus $0.20 for Qwen3 30B A3B (1.3× as much) and $0.21 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 30B A3B has an ECI of 136.2, Rnj-1 Instruct has not been scored yet and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has an ECI of 133.8.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 30B A3B, Rnj-1 Instruct and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 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?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 30B A3B and 32,768 for Rnj-1 Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384, Rnj-1 Instruct up to 32,768, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text; Rnj-1 Instruct accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 30B A3B and Rnj-1 Instruct publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Rnj-1 Instruct is the newest, released Dec 4, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 came out Jun 17, 2025; Qwen3 30B A3B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 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.
