Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs Solar Pro 2 vs Grok 4.1 Fast
Grok 4.1 Fast comes out ahead, 66 to 62 and 51 on our weighted score, though Solar Pro 2 is 9% cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context262K
UpstageSolar Pro 2
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.25
- Context66K
- 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 Solar Pro 2 (51). 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 priceSolar Pro 2Solar Pro 2 $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 · Solar Pro 2 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video · Solar Pro 2: Text · Grok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct | Solar Pro 2 | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 74 | 75 | 73 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 35 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 12 | 72 |
| Overall | 100% | 62/100 | 51/100 | 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) | Solar Pro 2Upstage | Grok 4.1 FastxAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.25 | $0.20 |
| Output | $0.60 | $0.25 (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 Upstage API | Median of 6 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 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 | Yesminimal · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | solar-pro2 | — |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 2 | 8 |
| Released | Oct 4, 2025 | May 20, 2025 | Nov 19, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Mar 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 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
- Solar Pro 2$3.00
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, Solar Pro 2 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 Solar Pro 2 (51). 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, Solar Pro 2 or Grok 4.1 Fast?
Solar Pro 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Upstage 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 Solar Pro 2 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, Solar Pro 2 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, Solar Pro 2 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 65,536 for Solar Pro 2. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct up to 32,768, Solar Pro 2 up to 8,192, 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; Solar Pro 2 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 publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Solar Pro 2 and Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.1 Fast is the newest, released Nov 19, 2025. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct came out Oct 4, 2025; Solar Pro 2 came out May 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Solar Pro 2 Mar 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.
