Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Palmyra X5 vs Apertus 70B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48, Palmyra X5 48, Apertus 70B 33). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $4.00
- Context131K
Writer
Palmyra X5
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $6.00
- Context1M
Swiss AI
Apertus 70B
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.82 / $2.42
- Context66K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100, Palmyra X5 48/100, Apertus 70B 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 70B on price and Palmyra X5 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 priceApertus 70BApertus 70B $1.22 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 · Palmyra X5 $1.95 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextPalmyra X5Palmyra X5 1,000,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Palmyra X5Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · Palmyra X5: Text, Images · Apertus 70B: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Apertus 70BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Palmyra X5 | Apertus 70B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 44 | 36 | 46 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 60 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 60 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 48/100 | 48/100 | 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 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen) | Palmyra X5Writer | Apertus 70BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 (best) | $0.60 | $0.82 |
| Output | $4.00 | $6.00 | $2.42 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.30 | $1.95 | $1.22 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Median of 1 providers | Median of 3 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 9 (best) | 1 | 3 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Apr 28, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 31, 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
- Palmyra X5$18.00
- Apertus 70B$13.04
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking, Palmyra X5 or Apertus 70B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100, Palmyra X5 48/100, Apertus 70B 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 70B on price and Palmyra X5 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 Thinking, Palmyra X5 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); Palmyra X5 costs $0.60 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $1.95 for Palmyra X5 (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet, Palmyra X5 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking, Palmyra X5 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?
Palmyra X5 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, Palmyra X5 up to 8,192, Apertus 70B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; Palmyra X5 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?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Apertus 70B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Palmyra X5 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025; Palmyra X5 came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
