Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B comes out ahead, 65 to 59 and 45 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B
59/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.80
- Context131K
- Our pick
NVIDIALlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B
65/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context128K
- NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct
45/100- ECI—
- Price$0.478 / $0.504
- Context128K
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is our pick
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59) and Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct (45). It leads on price. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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 priceLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B Free · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 · Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct $0.485 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 · Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 128,000 · Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images · Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B: Text · Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B | Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 72 | 100 | 65 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 59/100 | 65/100 | 45/100 |
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-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BNVIDIA | Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B InstructNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | Free (best) | $0.478 |
| Output | $0.80 | Free (best) | $0.504 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.35 | Free (best) | $0.485 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Nvidia API | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-30b-a3b | nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 | nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-70b-instruct |
| API providers | 1 | 1 | 3 (best) |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Apr 7, 2025 | Apr 15, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 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$3.60
- Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BFree
- Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct$5.79
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59) and Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct (45). It leads on price. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 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, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B costs $0.20 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct costs $0.478 input / $0.504 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers; free on Nvidia). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is listed as free.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B has not been scored yet, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B has not been scored yet and Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct 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 30B-A3B has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and 128,000 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B up to 8,192, Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images; Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B accepts text; Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct accepts text. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 15, 2025. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B came out Apr 7, 2025; Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B came out Apr 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B Apr 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.
