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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs DeepSeek R1 0528

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) comes out ahead, 72 to 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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

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 DeepSeek R1 0528 (41). It leads on price, 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 · 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 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud): Text, Images · DeepSeek R1 0528: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)DeepSeek R1 0528
Price50%10049
Inputs & features30%5035
Context window20%3728
Overall100%72/10041/100

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 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Alibaba (Qwen)DeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeek
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
Output$0.215 (best)$2.19
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.07 (best)$0.932
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)163,840 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMIT
API model ID——
API providers116 (best)
ReleasedOct 15, 2025May 28, 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
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (41). It leads on price, 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) or DeepSeek R1 0528?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.215 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 $0.932 for DeepSeek R1 0528 (13× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

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

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) and DeepSeek R1 0528 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?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) up to 32,768, DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the newest, released 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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