QwQ 32B vs Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct
Too close to call on our weighted score (QwQ 32B 43, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)QwQ 32B
43/100- ECI137.6
- Price$0.66 / $1.00
- Context131K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.45 / $2.25
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (QwQ 32B 43/100, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: QwQ 32B on price and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct for long inputs. 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 priceQwQ 32BQwQ 32B $0.745 · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 262,144 · QwQ 32B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwQ 32B: Text · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | QwQ 32B | Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 56 | 52 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 43/100 | 41/100 |
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 | QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 137.6 | — |
| ECI rank | #109 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 65.3% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 59.2% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.66 | $0.45 (best) |
| Output | $1.00 (best) | $2.25 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.745 (best) | $0.90 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.75 / $3.75 |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | qwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instruct |
| API providers | 1 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Mar 5, 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | 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.
- QwQ 32B$8.60
- Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: QwQ 32B or Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (QwQ 32B 43/100, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 41/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: QwQ 32B on price and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct for long inputs. 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, QwQ 32B or Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct?
QwQ 32B is cheaper at $0.66 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct costs $0.45 input / $2.25 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.745 per million tokens for QwQ 32B versus $0.90 for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. QwQ 32B has an ECI of 137.6 and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for QwQ 32B and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: QwQ 32B up to 8,192, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
QwQ 32B accepts text; Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: QwQ 32B Apr 2024, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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