Model Comparison
o1-preview vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
o1-preview shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 66.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: o1-preview vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking — which is better?
o1-preview (by OpenAI) 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.
o1-preview outperforms in 2 benchmarks (MMLU, SimpleQA), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). o1-preview shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is roughly 66.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose o1-preview if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking if…
- cost matters — it's about 66.0x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
o1-preview outperforms in 2 benchmarks (MMLU, SimpleQA), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
o1-preview shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, o1-preview ($15.00/1M tokens) is 75.0x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, o1-preview ($60.00/1M tokens) is 60.6x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.99/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o1-preview is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to o1-preview's 128,000 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas o1-preview does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
o1-preview
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
o1-preview is licensed under a proprietary 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.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
o1-preview was released on 2024-09-12, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 13 months newer than o1-preview.
Sep 12, 2024
1.8 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
9 months ago
1.0yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
o1-preview is available from OpenAI, Azure. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
o1-preview
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
o1-preview
View detailsOpenAI
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about o1-preview vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.