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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B vs Qwen Flash

Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 68 to 59 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

    Released Apr 2025

    59/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen Flash

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen Flash

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen Flash is our pick

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59). It leads on price and context window. 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 priceQwen FlashQwen Flash $0.138 · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images · Qwen Flash: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-VL 30B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen Flash
Price50%7291
Inputs & features30%6035
Context window20%2460
Overall100%59/10068/100

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 vs Qwen Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-VL 30B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20$0.05 (best)
Output$0.80$0.40 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.35$0.138 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-vl-30b-a3bqwen-flash
API providers16 (best)
ReleasedApr 2025Jul 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 2024
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$3.60
  • Qwen Flash$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B or Qwen Flash?

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (59). It leads on price and context window. 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 or Qwen Flash?

Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B costs $0.20 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for Qwen Flash versus $0.35 for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (2.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B has not been scored yet and Qwen Flash has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B and Qwen Flash 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?

Qwen Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768, Qwen Flash up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images; Qwen Flash accepts text. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B came out Apr 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B Apr 2025, Qwen Flash Apr 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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