ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking comes out ahead, 59 to 49 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking

    Released Sep 22, 2025

    59/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.97
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking is our pick

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct wins on 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 Omni 30B A3B ThinkingQwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking $0.43 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 · Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 Omni 30B A3B ThinkingQwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 Omni 30B A3B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Price50%6457
Inputs & features30%8050
Context window20%1225
Overall100%59/10049/100

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 Omni 30B A3B Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 Omni 30B A3B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25 (best)$0.30
Output$0.97 (best)$1.55
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.43 (best)$0.613
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID——
API providers116 (best)
ReleasedSep 22, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 31, 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 Omni 30B A3B Thinking$4.44
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (49). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct wins on 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 Omni 30B A3B Thinking or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.97 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.43 per million tokens for Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking versus $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 65,536 for Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking up to 16,384, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking accepts text, images, audio and video; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images. Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking came out Sep 22, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 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

Related comparisons