Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs QVQ Max vs Pixtral Large (25.02)
QVQ Max comes out ahead, 40 to 33 and 28 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
28/100- ECI—
- Price$1.50 / $7.50
- Context262K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
QVQ Max
40/100- ECI—
- Price$1.20 / $4.80
- Context131K
Mistral AIPixtral Large (25.02)
33/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context128K
QVQ Max is our pick
QVQ Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 40/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B 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 priceQVQ MaxQVQ Max $2.10 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 · Pixtral Large (25.02) $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · QVQ Max 131,072 · Pixtral Large (25.02) 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQVQ Max and Pixtral Large (25.02)Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · QVQ Max: Text, Images · Pixtral Large (25.02): Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | QVQ Max | Pixtral Large (25.02) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 27 | 35 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 60 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 28/100 | 40/100 | 33/100 |
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 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | QVQ MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Pixtral Large (25.02)Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.50 | $1.20 (best) | $2.00 |
| Output | $7.50 | $4.80 (best) | $6.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $2.10 (best) | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $2.70 / $13.50 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Median of 3 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct | qvq-max | — |
| API providers | 7 (best) | 1 | 3 |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Mar 25, 2025 | Apr 8, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2024 | — |
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
- QVQ Max$21.60
- Pixtral Large (25.02)$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct, QVQ Max or Pixtral Large (25.02)?
QVQ Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 40/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B 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 480B-A35B Instruct, QVQ Max or Pixtral Large (25.02)?
QVQ Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $4.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Pixtral Large (25.02) costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.10 per million tokens for QVQ Max versus $3.00 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (1.4× as much) and $3.00 for Pixtral Large (25.02) (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet, QVQ Max has not been scored yet and Pixtral Large (25.02) has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct, QVQ Max and Pixtral Large (25.02) 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 480B-A35B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for QVQ Max and 128,000 for Pixtral Large (25.02). Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, QVQ Max up to 8,192, Pixtral Large (25.02) up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; QVQ Max accepts text and images; Pixtral Large (25.02) accepts text and images. QVQ Max 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; QVQ Max and Pixtral Large (25.02) is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Pixtral Large (25.02) is the newest, released Apr 8, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct came out Apr 2025; QVQ Max came out Mar 25, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, QVQ Max 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.
