Model Comparison
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning vs Qwen3 30B A3BWhich is better in 2026?
Comparing Grok-4 Fast Reasoning and Qwen3 30B A3B across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Verdict: Grok-4 Fast Reasoning vs Qwen3 30B A3B — which is better?
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning (by xAI) and Qwen3 30B A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
On price, Qwen3 30B A3B is roughly 1.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning also accepts a larger context window (2,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Grok-4 Fast Reasoning if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 2,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025
Choose Qwen3 30B A3B if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.8x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning and Qwen3 30B A3Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Grok-4 Fast Reasoning ($0.20/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Qwen3 30B A3B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok-4 Fast Reasoning ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Qwen3 30B A3B ($0.30/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Grok-4 Fast Reasoning is more expensive than Qwen3 30B A3B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning accepts 2,000,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 30B A3B's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 30B A3B can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Grok-4 Fast Reasoning is limited to 30,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 30B A3B does not.
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning
Qwen3 30B A3B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 30B A3B 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-4 Fast Reasoning was released on 2025-08-28, while Qwen3 30B A3B was released on 2025-04-29.
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning is 4 months newer than Qwen3 30B A3B.
Aug 28, 2025
9 months ago
4mo newerApr 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning is available from xAI. Qwen3 30B A3B is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Fireworks.
Grok-4 Fast Reasoning
Qwen3 30B A3B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 30B A3B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|
FAQ
Common questions about Grok-4 Fast Reasoning vs Qwen3 30B A3B.