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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs GPT-5 Chat

GPT-5 Chat comes out ahead, 34 to 28 on our weighted score, though Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is 13% cheaper per token.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct

    Released Apr 2025

    28/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.50 / $7.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5 Chat

    Released Aug 7, 2025

    34/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.25 / $10.00
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5 Chat

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-5 Chat is our pick

GPT-5 Chat is the better all-round choice, scoring 34/100 against Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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 priceQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 · GPT-5 Chat $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5 ChatGPT-5 Chat 400,000 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-5 ChatQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · GPT-5 Chat: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructGPT-5 Chat
Price50%2724
Inputs & features30%2545
Context window20%3744
Overall100%28/10034/100

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 480B-A35B Instruct vs GPT-5 Chat specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5 ChatOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.50$1.25 (best)
Output$7.50 (best)$10.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00 (best)$3.44
Long-context rateOver 32K: $2.70 / $13.50Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct—
API providers7 (best)2
ReleasedApr 2025Aug 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Sep 30, 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 480B-A35B Instruct$30.00
  • GPT-5 Chat$32.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or GPT-5 Chat?

GPT-5 Chat is the better all-round choice, scoring 34/100 against Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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 480B-A35B Instruct or GPT-5 Chat?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is cheaper at $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct versus $3.44 for GPT-5 Chat (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet and GPT-5 Chat has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct and GPT-5 Chat yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-5 Chat does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-5 Chat has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, GPT-5 Chat up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; GPT-5 Chat accepts text and images. GPT-5 Chat handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Chat is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-5 Chat is the newest, released Aug 7, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct came out Apr 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, GPT-5 Chat Sep 30, 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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