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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs QwQ Plus vs GLM-4.5V

GLM-4.5V comes out ahead, 49 to 41 and 38 on our weighted score.

  1. 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)

    QwQ Plus

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    38/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.80 / $2.40
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove QwQ Plus
  3. Our pick

    Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-4.5V

    Released Aug 11, 2025

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.60 / $1.80
    • Context64K
    Full specs Remove GLM-4.5V
01 — Verdict

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 QwQ Plus (38). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct wins on context window. 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 · QwQ Plus $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 262,144 · QwQ Plus 131,072 · GLM-4.5V 64,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-4.5VQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text · QwQ Plus: Text · GLM-4.5V: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and GLM-4.5VPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwQ PlusGLM-4.5V
Price50%524652
Inputs & features30%253570
Context window20%372412
Overall100%41/10038/10049/100

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 QwQ Plus vs GLM-4.5V specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)QwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen)GLM-4.5VZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—65.4%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.45 (best)$0.80$0.60
Output$2.25$2.40$1.80 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.90 (best)$1.20$0.90 (best)
Long-context rateOver 32K: $0.75 / $3.75Same rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens64,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)8,192 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instructqwq-plusglm-4.5v
API providers13 (best)211
ReleasedApr 2025Mar 5, 2025Aug 11, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 2024Apr 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct$9.00
  • QwQ Plus$12.80
  • GLM-4.5V$9.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct, QwQ Plus or GLM-4.5V?

GLM-4.5V is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (41) and QwQ Plus (38). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct wins on context window. 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, QwQ Plus 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); QwQ Plus costs $0.80 input / $2.40 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 $1.20 for QwQ Plus (1.3× 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, QwQ Plus 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, QwQ Plus 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 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for QwQ Plus and 64,000 for GLM-4.5V. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536, QwQ Plus up to 8,192, GLM-4.5V up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text; QwQ Plus 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?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and GLM-4.5V publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; QwQ Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GLM-4.5V is the newest, released Aug 11, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct came out Apr 2025; QwQ Plus came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, QwQ Plus Apr 2024, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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