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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Palmyra X5

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48, Palmyra X5 48). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. 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

  2. Writer

    Palmyra X5

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.60 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Palmyra X5

  3. Add a model

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01 — Verdict

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), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 priceQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 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 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · Palmyra X5: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPalmyra X5
Price50%4436
Inputs & features30%7060
Context window20%2460
Overall100%48/10048/100

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 Thinking vs Palmyra X5 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)Palmyra X5Writer
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.60
Output$4.00 (best)$6.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$1.30 (best)$1.95
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID——
API providers9 (best)1
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
  • Palmyra X5$18.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking or Palmyra X5?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100, Palmyra X5 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 or Palmyra X5?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is cheaper at $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 $1.30 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking versus $1.95 for Palmyra X5 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet and Palmyra X5 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Palmyra X5 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?

Palmyra X5 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, Palmyra X5 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. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Palmyra X5 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Palmyra X5 came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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