Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 Coder Flash vs Grok Code Fast 1
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49, Grok Code Fast 1 48). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.55
- Context131K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 Coder Flash
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.50
- Context1M
xAIGrok Code Fast 1
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.50
- Context256K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49/100, Grok Code Fast 1 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok Code Fast 1 on price and Qwen3 Coder Flash for long inputs. 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 priceGrok Code Fast 1Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3 Coder Flash $0.60 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder FlashQwen3 Coder Flash 1,000,000 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Qwen3 Coder Flash: Text · Grok Code Fast 1: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct | Qwen3 Coder Flash | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 57 | 58 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 60 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 51/100 | 48/100 |
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 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3 Coder FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Grok Code Fast 1xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.30 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.55 | $1.50 (best) | $1.50 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.06 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.613 | $0.60 | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.50 / $2.50 | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 16 providers | Official Alibaba API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | qwen3-coder-flash | — |
| API providers | 16 (best) | 10 | 7 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 31, 2025 | Apr 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
- Qwen3 Coder Flash$6.00
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Qwen3 Coder Flash or Grok Code Fast 1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3 Coder Flash 51/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 49/100, Grok Code Fast 1 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok Code Fast 1 on price and Qwen3 Coder Flash for long inputs. 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Qwen3 Coder Flash or Grok Code Fast 1?
Grok Code Fast 1 is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). Qwen3 Coder Flash costs $0.30 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); 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 $0.525 per million tokens for Grok Code Fast 1 versus $0.60 for Qwen3 Coder Flash (1.1× as much) and $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet, Qwen3 Coder Flash has not been scored yet and Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Qwen3 Coder Flash and Grok Code Fast 1 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 Coder Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1 and 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, Qwen3 Coder Flash up to 65,536, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Qwen3 Coder Flash accepts text; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Coder Flash and Grok Code Fast 1 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen3 Coder Flash came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 2025, Qwen3 Coder Flash 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.
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