Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs Jamba Mini vs Grok 4.1 Fast
Grok 4.1 Fast comes out ahead, 66 to 62 and 55 on our weighted score, though Jamba Mini is 9% cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context262K
AI21 LabsJamba Mini
55/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.40
- Context256K
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
66/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
Grok 4.1 Fast is our pick
Grok 4.1 Fast is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62) and Jamba Mini (55). It leads on context window. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins on inputs & features. 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 priceJamba MiniJamba Mini $0.25 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct $0.263 · Grok 4.1 Fast $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 FastGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 · Jamba Mini 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video · Jamba Mini: Text · Grok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and Jamba MiniPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct | Jamba Mini | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 74 | 75 | 73 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 35 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 36 | 72 |
| Overall | 100% | 62/100 | 55/100 | 66/100 |
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 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Jamba MiniAI21 Labs | Grok 4.1 FastxAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Output | $0.60 | $0.40 (best) | $0.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.263 | $0.25 (best) | $0.275 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 13 providers | Official AI21 Labs API | Median of 6 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens | 30,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | jamba-mini | — |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 1 | 8 |
| Released | Oct 4, 2025 | Jan 8, 2026 | Nov 19, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Aug 22, 2024 | — |
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 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
- Jamba Mini$2.80
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, Jamba Mini or Grok 4.1 Fast?
Grok 4.1 Fast is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62) and Jamba Mini (55). It leads on context window. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins on inputs & features. 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 30B A3B Instruct, Jamba Mini or Grok 4.1 Fast?
Jamba Mini is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official AI21 Labs API price). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers); Grok 4.1 Fast costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.25 per million tokens for Jamba Mini versus $0.263 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (1.1× as much) and $0.275 for Grok 4.1 Fast (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has not been scored yet, Jamba Mini has not been scored yet and Grok 4.1 Fast has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, Jamba Mini and Grok 4.1 Fast 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?
Grok 4.1 Fast has the largest context window at 2,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and 256,000 for Jamba Mini. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Jamba Mini up to 4,096, Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video; Jamba Mini accepts text; Grok 4.1 Fast accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and Jamba Mini publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Jamba Mini is the newest, released Jan 8, 2026. Grok 4.1 Fast came out Nov 19, 2025; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct came out Oct 4, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Jamba Mini Aug 22, 2024.
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.
