Qwen3-VL Plus vs Qwen3 Coder Flash vs Grok Code Fast 1
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 51 and 48 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 Coder Flash
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.50
- Context1M
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 Qwen3 Coder Flash (51) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Coder Flash wins on 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 priceGrok Code Fast 1Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen3 Coder Flash $0.60 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder FlashQwen3 Coder Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Qwen3 Coder Flash: Text · Grok Code Fast 1: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | Qwen3 Coder Flash | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 58 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 60 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 51/100 | 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) | Qwen3 Coder FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Grok Code Fast 1xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.30 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.60 | $1.50 (best) | $1.50 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.04 (best) | $0.06 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $0.60 | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.30 / $2.40 | Over 32K: $0.50 / $2.50 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | 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 | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | qwen3-coder-flash | — |
| API providers | 6 | 10 (best) | 7 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 | — |
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
- Qwen3 Coder Flash$6.00
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen3 Coder Flash or Grok Code Fast 1?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 Coder Flash (51) and Grok Code Fast 1 (48). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 Coder Flash wins on 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 Plus, Qwen3 Coder Flash 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); Qwen3 Coder Flash costs $0.30 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $0.60 for Qwen3 Coder Flash (1.1× 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, Qwen3 Coder Flash 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, Qwen3 Coder Flash 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 Coder Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3-VL Plus and 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Qwen3 Coder Flash up to 65,536, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Qwen3 Coder Flash accepts text; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen3 Coder Flash and Grok Code Fast 1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen3 Coder Flash came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 2025, Qwen3 Coder Flash Apr 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.
