Model Comparison
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 2.2x cheaper per token.
Verdict: K-EXAONE-236B-A23B vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct — which is better?
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B (by LG AI Research) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B 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.
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. K-EXAONE-236B-A23B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is roughly 2.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose K-EXAONE-236B-A23B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 2.2x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, K-EXAONE-236B-A23B ($0.60/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, K-EXAONE-236B-A23B ($1.00/1M tokens) is 1.4x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.70/1M tokens).
In conclusion, K-EXAONE-236B-A23B is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B has 205.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, making it 661.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to K-EXAONE-236B-A23B's 32,768 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas K-EXAONE-236B-A23B does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B 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
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B was released on 2025-12-31, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B is 3 months newer than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.
Dec 31, 2025
5 months ago
3mo newerSep 22, 2025
8 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-10-01, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm K-EXAONE-236B-A23B's training data extends to 2025-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct's cutoff date.
Oct 2025
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Provider Availability
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B is available from FriendliAI. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
K-EXAONE-236B-A23B
View detailsLG AI Research
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about K-EXAONE-236B-A23B vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.