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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

QwQ Plus vs DeepSeek-V3

Too close to call on our weighted score (QwQ Plus 52, DeepSeek-V3 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ Plus

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.80 / $2.40
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove QwQ Plus

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-V3

    Released Dec 26, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI132.3
    • Price$0.32 / $1.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-V3

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (QwQ Plus 52/100, DeepSeek-V3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: QwQ Plus for raw capability and DeepSeek-V3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityQwQ PlusShared benchmarks: QwQ Plus 65.4% · DeepSeek-V3 56.5%
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-V3DeepSeek-V3 $0.515 · QwQ Plus $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwQ Plus 131,072 · DeepSeek-V3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwQ Plus: Text · DeepSeek-V3: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-V3Publishes downloadable weights (DeepSeek Model License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwQ PlusDeepSeek-V3
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%6557
Price25%4664
Inputs & features15%3525
Context window10%2424
Overall100%52/10050/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

QwQ Plus vs DeepSeek-V3 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen)DeepSeek-V3DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—132.3
ECI rank—#121 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.4% (best)56.5%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—15.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.80$0.32 (best)
Output$2.40$1.10 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$1.20$0.515 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 5 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenDeepSeek Model License
API model IDqwq-plus—
API providers25 (best)
ReleasedMar 5, 2025Dec 26, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024—
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.

  • QwQ Plus$12.80
  • DeepSeek-V3$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: QwQ Plus or DeepSeek-V3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (QwQ Plus 52/100, DeepSeek-V3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: QwQ Plus for raw capability and DeepSeek-V3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, QwQ Plus or DeepSeek-V3?

DeepSeek-V3 is cheaper at $0.32 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). QwQ Plus costs $0.80 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.515 per million tokens for DeepSeek-V3 versus $1.20 for QwQ Plus (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): QwQ Plus 65.4% and DeepSeek-V3 56.5%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — QwQ Plus 65.4%, DeepSeek-V3 56.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for QwQ Plus and DeepSeek-V3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, QwQ Plus leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

QwQ Plus and DeepSeek-V3 share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: QwQ Plus up to 8,192, DeepSeek-V3 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

QwQ Plus accepts text; DeepSeek-V3 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-V3 publishes its weights (DeepSeek Model License) and can be self-hosted; QwQ Plus is proprietary.

Which is newer?

QwQ Plus is the newest, released Mar 5, 2025. DeepSeek-V3 came out Dec 26, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: QwQ Plus 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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