Model Comparison

Grok-4.1 Thinking vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Grok-4.1 Thinking vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct — which is better?

Grok-4.1 Thinking (by xAI) and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct (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.

Choose Grok-4.1 Thinking if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2025

Choose Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-4.1 Thinking specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Grok-4.1 Thinking specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-4.1 Thinking
Input256,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-4.1 Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct does not.

Grok-4.1 Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-4.1 Thinking

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-4.1 Thinking 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.

Grok-4.1 Thinking

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-4.1 Thinking was released on 2025-11-17, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct was released on 2025-01-31.

Grok-4.1 Thinking is 10 months newer than Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.

Grok-4.1 Thinking

Nov 17, 2025

8 months ago

9mo newer
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Jan 31, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI
Larger context window (256,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-4.1 Thinking
✓ Preferred
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-4.1 Thinking
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-4.1 Thinking vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-4.1 Thinking or Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Grok-4.1 Thinking (xAI) and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Grok-4.1 Thinking compare to Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-4.1 Thinking scores Creative Writing v3: 86.1%, WMDP: 84.0%, EQ-Bench: 79.3%, ProtocolQA: 79.0%, LMArena Text Leaderboard: 74.2%. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct scores TAU-bench Retail: 77.5%, SWE-Bench Verified: 69.6%, BFCL-v3: 68.7%, Aider-Polyglot: 61.8%, TAU-bench Airline: 60.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Grok-4.1 Thinking supports 256K tokens and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-4.1 Thinking and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Grok-4.1 Thinking is developed by xAI and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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