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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Trinity Mini

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) comes out ahead, 72 to 65 and 41 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)

    Released Oct 15, 2025

    72/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.022 / $0.215
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek R1 0528

    Released May 28, 2025

    41/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$0.512 / $2.19
    • Context164K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek R1 0528

  3. Arcee AI

    Trinity Mini

    Released Dec 1, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.045 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Trinity Mini
01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is our pick

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Trinity Mini (65) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (41). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) $0.07 · Trinity Mini $0.071 · DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 262,144 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 · Trinity Mini 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud): Text, Images · DeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Trinity Mini: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528 and Trinity MiniPublishes downloadable weights (MIT and OpenMDW-1.1)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)DeepSeek R1 0528Trinity Mini
Price50%10049100
Inputs & features30%503535
Context window20%372825
Overall100%72/10041/10065/100

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 Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Trinity Mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Alibaba (Qwen)DeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeekTrinity MiniArcee AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—141.2—
ECI rank—#108 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—76.3%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—66.4%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.022 (best)$0.512$0.045
Output$0.215$2.19$0.15 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.07 (best)$0.932$0.071
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 16 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)163,840 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMITOpenOpenMDW-1.1
API model ID———
API providers116 (best)1
ReleasedOct 15, 2025May 28, 2025Dec 1, 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 Flash (Alibaba Cloud)$0.65
  • DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
  • Trinity Mini$0.75
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud), DeepSeek R1 0528 or Trinity Mini?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Trinity Mini (65) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (41). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 Flash (Alibaba Cloud), DeepSeek R1 0528 or Trinity Mini?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.215 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Trinity Mini costs $0.045 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.07 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) versus $0.071 for Trinity Mini (1× as much) and $0.932 for DeepSeek R1 0528 (13× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has not been scored yet, DeepSeek R1 0528 has an ECI of 141.2 and Trinity Mini has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud), DeepSeek R1 0528 and Trinity Mini 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 Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528 and 131,072 for Trinity Mini. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) up to 32,768, DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Trinity Mini up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) accepts text and images; DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Trinity Mini accepts text. Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek R1 0528 and Trinity Mini publishes its weights (MIT and OpenMDW-1.1) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Trinity Mini is the newest, released Dec 1, 2025. Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) came out Oct 15, 2025; DeepSeek R1 0528 came out May 28, 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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