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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct comes out ahead, 53 to 31 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    31/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 Max 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 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 Max
Price50%6032
Inputs & features30%6025
Context window20%2437
Overall100%53/10031/100

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 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—142.4
ECI rank—#91 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—72.6%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—19.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—73.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—48.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30 (best)$1.20
Output$1.55 (best)$6.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.613 (best)$2.40
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 12 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-max
API providers1216 (best)
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 31, 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
  • Qwen3 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 Max 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 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 $0.613 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct versus $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (3.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3 Max 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 Max has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Qwen3 Max 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 Max is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 2025, Qwen3 Max 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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