Grok-2 vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 21.1 to 11.4. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is 8.4x cheaper per token.
xAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 21.1 to 11.4, ranking #193 overall.
On price, Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is roughly 8.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Grok-2
- you want predictable pricing at $2.00/M input and $10.00/M output
Choose Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 21.1 and ranks #193 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- cost matters — it's about 8.4x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
8 reported for Grok-2 · 10 for Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Grok-2 and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Grok-2 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 6.7x more expensive than Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok-2 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct ($1.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Grok-2 is more expensive than Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Grok-2's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Grok-2 is limited to 8,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Grok-2 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct does not.
Grok-2 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Grok-2
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-2 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Grok-2 was released on 2024-08-13, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct was released on 2025-01-31.
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is 6 months newer than Grok-2.
Aug 13, 2024
2.1 years ago
Jan 31, 2025
1.6 years ago
5mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Grok-2 is available from xAI. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is available from DeepInfra.
Grok-2
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Grok-2 and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Grok-2 vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.