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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 8B vs Qwen3 30B A3B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 30B A3B 58, Qwen3 8B 56). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 8B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.18 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 8B

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.114 / $0.50
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3 30B A3B 58/100, Qwen3 8B 56/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 30B A3BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 · Qwen3 8B 136.2
  • Lowest priceQwen3 30B A3BQwen3 30B A3B $0.21 · Qwen3 8B $0.31 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3 8B 131,072 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 8B: Text · Qwen3 30B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 8BQwen3 30B A3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6161
Price25%7482
Inputs & features15%3535
Context window10%2424
Overall100%56/10058/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 8B vs Qwen3 30B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 8BAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.2136.2 (best)
ECI rank#113 of 148#112 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions56.8%61.7% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics56.1%62.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.18$0.114 (best)
Output$0.70$0.50 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.31$0.21 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 8 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDqwen3-8b—
API providers18 (best)
ReleasedApr 28, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025—
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 8B$3.20
  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.14
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 8B or Qwen3 30B A3B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3 30B A3B 58/100, Qwen3 8B 56/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 8B or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.114 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). Qwen3 8B costs $0.18 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.21 per million tokens for Qwen3 30B A3B versus $0.31 for Qwen3 8B (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 30B A3B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 (#112 of 148) and Qwen3 8B 136.2 (#113 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.3–138.7 vs 129.7–138.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 30B A3B 61.7%, Qwen3 8B 56.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 30B A3B 62.8%, Qwen3 8B 56.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 8B and Qwen3 30B A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 30B A3B 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 8B and Qwen3 30B A3B share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 8B up to 8,192, Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 8B accepts text; Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 8B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. Qwen3 30B A3B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 8B Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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