Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs GLM-4.5V
GLM-4.5V comes out ahead, 49 to 41 and 28 on our weighted score.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.45 / $2.25
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
28/100- ECI—
- Price$1.50 / $7.50
- Context262K
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.5V
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $1.80
- Context64K
GLM-4.5V is our pick
GLM-4.5V is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (41) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on inputs & features. 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 priceQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and GLM-4.5VQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct $0.90 · GLM-4.5V $0.90 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 262,144 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · GLM-4.5V 64,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGLM-4.5VQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · GLM-4.5V: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | GLM-4.5V |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 27 | 52 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 41/100 | 28/100 | 49/100 |
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-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | GLM-4.5VZ.ai (Zhipu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.45 (best) | $1.50 | $0.60 |
| Output | $2.25 | $7.50 | $1.80 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.90 (best) | $3.00 | $0.90 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.75 / $3.75 | Over 32K: $2.70 / $13.50 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official Z.AI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 64,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instruct | qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct | glm-4.5v |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 7 | 11 |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 | Aug 11, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 | Apr 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct$9.00
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct$30.00
- GLM-4.5V$9.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or GLM-4.5V?
GLM-4.5V is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (41) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or GLM-4.5V?
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.45 input / $2.25 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GLM-4.5V costs $0.60 input / $1.80 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price); Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.90 per million tokens for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct versus $0.90 for GLM-4.5V (1× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (3.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet and GLM-4.5V has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct and GLM-4.5V 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?
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 64,000 for GLM-4.5V. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, GLM-4.5V up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; GLM-4.5V accepts text, images and video. GLM-4.5V handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
GLM-4.5V is the newest, released Aug 11, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct came out Apr 2025; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct came out Apr 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, GLM-4.5V 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.
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