Model Comparison
Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B is 2.5x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Jamba 1.5 Mini (by AI21 Labs) and Qwen3 235B A22B (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 Mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 5 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 235B A22B is roughly 2.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Jamba 1.5 Mini also accepts a larger context window (256,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Jamba 1.5 Mini if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 256,144 token context window
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 2.5x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Jamba 1.5 Mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 5 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.20/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.40/1M tokens) is 4.0x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Jamba 1.5 Mini is more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 235B A22B has 183.0B more parameters than Jamba 1.5 Mini, making it 351.9% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3 235B A22B's 128,000 tokens. Jamba 1.5 Mini can generate longer responses up to 256,144 tokens, while Qwen3 235B A22B is limited to 128,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Jamba 1.5 Mini is licensed under Jamba Open Model License, while Qwen3 235B A22B 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 Mini was released on 2024-08-22, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 8 months newer than Jamba 1.5 Mini.
Aug 22, 2024
1.8 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.2 years ago
8mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Jamba 1.5 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-03-05, while Qwen3 235B A22B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Jamba 1.5 Mini's training data extends to 2024-03-05, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 235B A22B's cutoff date.
Mar 2024
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Provider Availability
Jamba 1.5 Mini is available from Bedrock, Google. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Jamba 1.5 Mini
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Jamba 1.5 Mini
View detailsAI21 Labs
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 235B A22B.