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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 30 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025Deprecated

    30/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

    Released Oct 4, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3 Max (30). 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 priceQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct $0.263 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3 Max 262,144 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen3 Max: Text · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 MaxQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Price50%3074
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%3737
Overall100%30/10062/100

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 Max vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)142.4—
ECI rank#101 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions72.6%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics19.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics73.3%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions48.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.20$0.15 (best)
Output$6.00$0.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$2.40$0.263 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 13 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDqwen3-max—
API providers1313
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Oct 4, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 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 Max$24.00
  • Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Max or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3 Max (30). 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 Max or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct versus $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (9.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4 and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B 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 Max and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Max accepts text; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Max is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 4, 2025. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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