Model Comparison
Jamba 1.5 Large vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 8.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Jamba 1.5 Large vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking — which is better?
Jamba 1.5 Large (by AI21 Labs) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking (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.
Jamba 1.5 Large outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is roughly 8.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Jamba 1.5 Large also accepts a larger context window (256,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Jamba 1.5 Large if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 8.8x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Jamba 1.5 Large outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Jamba 1.5 Large ($2.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, Jamba 1.5 Large ($8.00/1M tokens) is 8.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.99/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Jamba 1.5 Large is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Jamba 1.5 Large has 367.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, making it 1183.9% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking's 131,072 tokens. Jamba 1.5 Large can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Jamba 1.5 Large does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Jamba 1.5 Large
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Jamba 1.5 Large is licensed under Jamba Open Model License, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Jamba Open Model License
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Jamba 1.5 Large was released on 2024-08-22, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 13 months newer than Jamba 1.5 Large.
Aug 22, 2024
1.8 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
9 months ago
1.1yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Jamba 1.5 Large has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-03-05, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Jamba 1.5 Large's training data extends to 2024-03-05, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking's cutoff date.
Mar 2024
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Provider Availability
Jamba 1.5 Large is available from Bedrock, Google. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Jamba 1.5 Large
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Jamba 1.5 Large
View detailsAI21 Labs
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Jamba 1.5 Large vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.