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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Apertus 70B

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking comes out ahead, 48 to 39 and 33 on our weighted score, though Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is 33% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    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. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

    Released Sep 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct

  3. Swiss AI

    Apertus 70B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    33/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.82 / $2.42
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove Apertus 70B
01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is our pick

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (39) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct wins on price. 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-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct $0.875 · Apertus 70B $1.22 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct: Text · Apertus 70B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructApertus 70B
Price50%445346
Inputs & features30%702525
Context window20%242412
Overall100%48/10039/10033/100

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 Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct vs Apertus 70B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Apertus 70BSwiss AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.50$0.82
Output$4.00$2.00 (best)$2.42
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.30$0.875 (best)$1.22
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model ID—qwen3-next-80b-a3b-instruct—
API providers913 (best)3
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Sep 2025Sep 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 31, 2025Apr 2025Sep 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
  • Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct$9.00
  • Apertus 70B$13.04
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Apertus 70B?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 48/100 against Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct (39) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct wins on price. 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, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct or Apertus 70B?

Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Apertus 70B costs $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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.875 per million tokens for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct versus $1.22 for Apertus 70B (1.4× as much) and $1.30 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (1.5× 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, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 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, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct 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?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Apertus 70B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct accepts text; Apertus 70B accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 2025, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B Instruct Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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