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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B vs Qwen-MT Turbo

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B comes out ahead, 59 to 40 on our weighted score, though Qwen-MT Turbo is 31% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B

    Released Apr 2025

    59/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.80
    • Context131K
  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen-MT Turbo

    Released Jan 2025

    40/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.16 / $0.49
    • Context16K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is our pick

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen-MT Turbo (40). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen-MT Turbo wins on price. 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-MT TurboQwen-MT Turbo $0.242 · Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B $0.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B 131,072 · Qwen-MT Turbo 16,384 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen3-VL 30B-A3B: Text, Images · Qwen-MT Turbo: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-VL 30B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-VL 30B-A3BQwen-MT Turbo
Price50%7279
Inputs & features30%600
Context window20%240
Overall100%59/10040/100

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-MT Turbo specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-VL 30B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen-MT TurboAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20$0.16 (best)
Output$0.80$0.49 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.35$0.242 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-vl-30b-a3bqwen-mt-turbo
API providers11
ReleasedApr 2025Jan 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-MT Turbo$2.58
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Qwen-MT Turbo (40). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen-MT Turbo wins on price. 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-MT Turbo?

Qwen-MT Turbo is cheaper at $0.16 input / $0.49 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 $0.242 per million tokens for Qwen-MT Turbo versus $0.35 for Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B (1.4× 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-MT Turbo 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-MT Turbo yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen-MT Turbo does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 16,384 for Qwen-MT Turbo. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B up to 32,768, Qwen-MT Turbo up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B accepts text and images; Qwen-MT Turbo 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-MT Turbo is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 2025. Qwen-MT Turbo came out Jan 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B Apr 2025, Qwen-MT Turbo 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.