ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Qwen Flash

Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 68 to 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Coder Plus

    Released Jul 23, 2025

    37/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.00 / $5.00
    • Context1.05M
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen Flash

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context1M
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen Flash is our pick

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 priceQwen FlashQwen Flash $0.138 · Qwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · Qwen Flash 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 Coder Plus: Text · Qwen Flash: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 Coder PlusQwen Flash
Price50%3691
Inputs & features30%2535
Context window20%6160
Overall100%37/10068/100

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 Plus vs Qwen Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.00$0.05 (best)
Output$5.00$0.40 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$2.00$0.138 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3-coder-plusqwen-flash
API providers11 (best)6
ReleasedJul 23, 2025Jul 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 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 Plus$20.00
  • Qwen Flash$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Coder Plus or Qwen Flash?

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 Plus or Qwen Flash?

Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3 Coder Plus costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for Qwen Flash versus $2.00 for Qwen3 Coder Plus (15× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Coder Plus has not been scored yet and Qwen Flash has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Coder Plus and Qwen Flash 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 Plus has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen Flash. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536, Qwen Flash up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text; Qwen Flash accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3 Coder Plus and Qwen Flash are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. Qwen3 Coder Plus came out Jul 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Coder Plus Apr 2025, Qwen Flash 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.