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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs Llama-3.2-3B

Llama-3.2-3B comes out ahead, 49 to 28 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  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

    Meta

    Llama-3.2-3B

    Released Sep 25, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.335
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.2-3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Llama-3.2-3B is our pick

Llama-3.2-3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct wins on inputs & features and 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 priceLlama-3.2-3BLlama-3.2-3B $0.159 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · Llama-3.2-3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · Llama-3.2-3B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructLlama-3.2-3B
Price50%2788
Inputs & features30%250
Context window20%3724
Overall100%28/10049/100

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 480B-A35B Instruct vs Llama-3.2-3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Llama-3.2-3BMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.50$0.10 (best)
Output$7.50$0.335 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.159 (best)
Long-context rateOver 32K: $2.70 / $13.50Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 3 providers
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
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenLlama 3.2 Community License
API model IDqwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct—
API providers7 (best)3
ReleasedApr 2025Sep 25, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Dec 2023
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
  • Llama-3.2-3B$1.67
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Llama-3.2-3B?

Llama-3.2-3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct wins on inputs & features and 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 480B-A35B Instruct or Llama-3.2-3B?

Llama-3.2-3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.335 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). 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 $0.159 per million tokens for Llama-3.2-3B versus $3.00 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (19× 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 Llama-3.2-3B 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 Llama-3.2-3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Llama-3.2-3B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Llama-3.2-3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, Llama-3.2-3B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; Llama-3.2-3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Llama 3.2 Community License), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. Llama-3.2-3B came out Sep 25, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, Llama-3.2-3B Dec 2023.

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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