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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs QwQ Plus

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41, QwQ Plus 38). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41/100, QwQ Plus 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct on price and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct for long inputs. 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 InstructQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct $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 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text · QwQ Plus: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwQ Plus
Price50%5246
Inputs & features30%2535
Context window20%3724
Overall100%41/10038/100

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 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)QwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—65.4%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.45 (best)$0.80
Output$2.25 (best)$2.40
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.90 (best)$1.20
Long-context rateOver 32K: $0.75 / $3.75Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instructqwq-plus
API providers13 (best)2
ReleasedApr 2025Mar 5, 2025
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
  • QwQ Plus$12.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct or QwQ Plus?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41/100, QwQ Plus 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct on price and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct for long inputs. 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 QwQ Plus?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.45 input / $2.25 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $1.20 for QwQ Plus (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 QwQ Plus 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 QwQ Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both 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. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536, QwQ Plus up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text; QwQ Plus accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. QwQ Plus came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, QwQ Plus 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

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