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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 62, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 62). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

    Released Oct 4, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

  2. NVIDIA

    Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

    Released Oct 28, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 62/100, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct on price and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct $0.263 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL $0.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructNemotron Nano 12B v2 VL
Price50%7472
Inputs & features30%6070
Context window20%3724
Overall100%62/10062/100

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 30B A3B Instruct vs Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VLNVIDIA
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.20
Output$0.60$0.60
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$0.30
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 13 providersMedian of 4 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID——
API providers13 (best)4
ReleasedOct 4, 2025Oct 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
  • Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL$3.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct or Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 62/100, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct on price and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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 30B A3B Instruct or Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL costs $0.20 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct versus $0.30 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 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 VL 30B A3B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video; Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL is the newest, released Oct 28, 2025. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct came out Oct 4, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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