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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Apertus 70B

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking comes out ahead, 48 to 34 and 33 on our weighted score, though Apertus 70B is 6% cheaper per token.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)

    Released Sep 2025

    34/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $6.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.40 / $4.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

  3. Swiss AI

    Apertus 70B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    33/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.82 / $2.42
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove Apertus 70B
01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is our pick

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads 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 priceApertus 70BApertus 70B $1.22 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) $1.88 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 131,072 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking): Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · Apertus 70B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingApertus 70B
Price50%374446
Inputs & features30%357025
Context window20%242412
Overall100%34/10048/10033/100

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 (Thinking) vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Apertus 70B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)Apertus 70BSwiss AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.40 (best)$0.82
Output$6.00$4.00$2.42 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.88$1.30$1.22 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 9 providersMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDqwen3-next-80b-a3b-thinking——
API providers10 (best)93
ReleasedSep 2025Sep 23, 2025Sep 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Mar 31, 2025Sep 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 (Thinking)$17.00
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
  • Apertus 70B$13.04
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking), Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking or Apertus 70B?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (34) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking or Apertus 70B?

Apertus 70B is cheaper at $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.40 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 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 $1.22 per million tokens for Apertus 70B versus $1.30 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (1.1× as much) and $1.88 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (1.5× 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; Apertus 70B accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) Apr 2025, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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