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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL Plus

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 39 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

    Released Sep 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL Plus

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (39). It leads on price, inputs & features 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 priceQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct $0.875 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct: Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-VL Plus
Price50%5362
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%2437
Overall100%39/10056/100

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-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.20 (best)
Output$2.00$1.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.875$0.55 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-next-80b-a3b-instructqwen3-vl-plus
API providers13 (best)6
ReleasedSep 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 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-Next 80B-A3B Instruct$9.00
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (39). It leads on price, inputs & features 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-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct costs $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.55 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL Plus versus $0.875 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct and Qwen3-VL Plus 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-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, Qwen3-VL Plus 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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