Qwen3 Coder Next vs Nova Lite vs GLM-4.6V
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 59 and 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Coder Next
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.20
- Context262K
- Our pick
AmazonNova Lite
77/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.6V
59/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context128K
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against GLM-4.6V (59) and Qwen3 Coder Next (51). It leads on price 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 priceNova LiteNova Lite $0.105 · Qwen3 Coder Next $0.45 · GLM-4.6V $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Qwen3 Coder Next 262,144 · GLM-4.6V 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LiteQwen3 Coder Next: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · GLM-4.6V: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 Coder Next and GLM-4.6VPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 Coder Next | Nova Lite | GLM-4.6V |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 66 | 96 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 39 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 51/100 | 77/100 | 59/100 |
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 NextAlibaba (Qwen) | Nova LiteAmazon | GLM-4.6VZ.ai (Zhipu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.06 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $1.20 | $0.24 (best) | $0.90 |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 | $0.105 (best) | $0.45 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 11 providers | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Z.AI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | glm-4.6v |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 3 | 10 |
| Released | Feb 3, 2026 | Dec 3, 2024 | Dec 8, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2025 | Oct 2024 | Apr 2025 |
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 Next$4.40
- Nova Lite$1.08
- GLM-4.6V$4.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 Coder Next, Nova Lite or GLM-4.6V?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against GLM-4.6V (59) and Qwen3 Coder Next (51). It leads on price 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 Next, Nova Lite or GLM-4.6V?
Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Qwen3 Coder Next costs $0.20 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers); GLM-4.6V costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.45 for Qwen3 Coder Next (4.3× as much) and $0.45 for GLM-4.6V (4.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 Coder Next has not been scored yet, Nova Lite has not been scored yet and GLM-4.6V has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Coder Next, Nova Lite and GLM-4.6V 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?
Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 Coder Next and 128,000 for GLM-4.6V. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Coder Next up to 65,536, Nova Lite up to 10,000, GLM-4.6V up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 Coder Next accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; GLM-4.6V accepts text, images and video. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 Coder Next and GLM-4.6V publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Coder Next is the newest, released Feb 3, 2026. GLM-4.6V came out Dec 8, 2025; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Coder Next Sep 2025, Nova Lite Oct 2024, GLM-4.6V Apr 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 Oct 4, 2026.
