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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

solar-mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

solar-mini comes out ahead, 50 to 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Upstage

    solar-mini

    Released Jun 12, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove solar-mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $3.95
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

solar-mini is our pick

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (44). It leads on price. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking wins on 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 pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.36 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinkingsolar-mini: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightsolar-miniQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Price50%8542
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%025
Overall100%50/10044/100

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.

solar-mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking specifications side by side
Specificationsolar-miniUpstageQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.50
Output$0.15 (best)$3.95
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15 (best)$1.36
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Upstage APIMedian of 5 providers
Limits
Context window32,768 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDsolar-mini—
API providers15 (best)
ReleasedJun 12, 2024Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2024Mar 31, 2025
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.

  • solar-mini$1.80
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.90
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: solar-mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (44). It leads on price. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking wins on 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, solar-mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.50 input / $3.95 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $1.36 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (9.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. solar-mini has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for solar-mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 235B A22B Thinking has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

solar-mini accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 2024, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 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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