Qwen3-VL Plus vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct vs Grok Code Fast 1
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 48 and 44 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.905 / $1.00
- Context131K
xAIGrok Code Fast 1
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.50
- Context256K
Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (44). It leads 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 priceGrok Code Fast 1Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct $0.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL Plus and Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct: Text, Images · Grok Code Fast 1: Text
- Self-hostingQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 49 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 50 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 25 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 44/100 | 48/100 |
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 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Grok Code Fast 1xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.905 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.60 | $1.00 (best) | $1.50 |
| Cached input | $0.04 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $0.93 | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.30 / $2.40 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 6 providers | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | — | — |
| API providers | 6 | 6 | 7 (best) |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Jan 26, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2024 | — |
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 Plus$5.20
- Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct$11.06
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct or Grok Code Fast 1?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (44). It leads 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 Plus, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct or Grok Code Fast 1?
Grok Code Fast 1 is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct costs $0.905 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.525 per million tokens for Grok Code Fast 1 versus $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1× as much) and $0.93 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct has not been scored yet and Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct and Grok Code Fast 1 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 Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1 and 131,072 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct up to 8,192, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct accepts text and images; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3-VL Plus and Grok Code Fast 1 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct came out Jan 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 2025, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 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 Nov 2, 2026.
