ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs Qwen-VL OCR

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct comes out ahead, 41 to 36 on our weighted score, though Qwen-VL OCR is 20% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct

    Released Apr 2025

    41/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.45 / $2.25
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen-VL OCR

    Released Oct 28, 2024

    36/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.72 / $0.72
    • Context34K
    Full specs Remove Qwen-VL OCR

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on context window. Qwen-VL OCR 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 priceQwen-VL OCRQwen-VL OCR $0.72 · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 262,144 · Qwen-VL OCR 34,096 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen-VL OCRQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text · Qwen-VL OCR: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwen-VL OCR
Price50%5257
Inputs & features30%2525
Context window20%371
Overall100%41/10036/100

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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs Qwen-VL OCR specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen-VL OCRAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.45 (best)$0.72
Output$2.25$0.72 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.90$0.72 (best)
Long-context rateOver 32K: $0.75 / $3.75Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)34,096 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instructqwen-vl-ocr
API providers13 (best)1
ReleasedApr 2025Oct 28, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 2024
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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct$9.00
  • Qwen-VL OCR$8.64
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct or Qwen-VL OCR?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Qwen-VL OCR (36). It leads on context window. Qwen-VL OCR 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct or Qwen-VL OCR?

Qwen-VL OCR is cheaper at $0.72 input / $0.72 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct costs $0.45 input / $2.25 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.72 per million tokens for Qwen-VL OCR versus $0.90 for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and Qwen-VL OCR has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and Qwen-VL OCR yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen-VL OCR does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 34,096 for Qwen-VL OCR. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536, Qwen-VL OCR up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Qwen-VL OCR accepts text and images. Qwen-VL OCR handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen-VL OCR is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. Qwen-VL OCR came out Oct 28, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, Qwen-VL OCR Apr 2024.

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

Related comparisons