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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 Coder Flash vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Coder Flash

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Coder Flash

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  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 3 points (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Coder Flash on price and Qwen3 Coder Flash 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 FlashQwen3 Coder Flash $0.60 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 Coder FlashQwen3 Coder Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 Coder Flash: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 Coder FlashQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Price50%5857
Inputs & features30%3550
Context window20%6025
Overall100%51/10049/100

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 Flash vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 Coder FlashAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.30
Output$1.50 (best)$1.55
Cached input$0.06—
Blended (3:1)$0.60 (best)$0.613
Long-context rateOver 32K: $0.50 / $2.50Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen3-coder-flash—
API providers1016 (best)
ReleasedJul 28, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Mar 31, 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 Flash$6.00
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Coder Flash or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Coder Flash on price and Qwen3 Coder Flash 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 Flash or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 Coder Flash is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.60 per million tokens for Qwen3 Coder Flash versus $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Coder Flash has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Coder Flash and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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 Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Coder Flash up to 65,536, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Coder Flash accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Coder Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3 Coder Flash came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Coder Flash Apr 2025, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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