Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Apertus 70B
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct comes out ahead, 39 to 34 and 33 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)
34/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $6.00
- Context131K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct
39/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context131K
Swiss AI
Apertus 70B
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.82 / $2.42
- Context66K
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is our pick
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on price. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) wins on 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-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct $0.875 · Apertus 70B $1.22 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) $1.88 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 131,072 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking): Text · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct: Text · Apertus 70B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct | Apertus 70B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 37 | 53 | 46 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 34/100 | 39/100 | 33/100 |
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-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Alibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Apertus 70BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $0.50 (best) | $0.82 |
| Output | $6.00 | $2.00 (best) | $2.42 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.88 | $0.875 (best) | $1.22 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Median of 3 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | qwen3-next-80b-a3b-thinking | qwen3-next-80b-a3b-instruct | — |
| API providers | 10 | 13 (best) | 3 |
| Released | Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 | Sep 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-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)$17.00
- Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct$9.00
- Apertus 70B$13.04
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking), Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Apertus 70B?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on price. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) wins on 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-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking), Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Apertus 70B?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Apertus 70B costs $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) costs $0.50 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 $0.875 per million tokens for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct versus $1.22 for Apertus 70B (1.4× as much) and $1.88 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (2.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) has not been scored yet, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and Apertus 70B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking), Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct and Apertus 70B 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?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) up to 32,768, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Apertus 70B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) accepts text; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Apertus 70B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Apertus 70B is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) came out Sep 2025; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) Apr 2025, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, Apertus 70B Sep 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.
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