o3 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 5.9x cheaper per token.
OpenAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
o3 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, CharXiv-R, ERQA, MMMU-Pro, VideoMMMU), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is roughly 5.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose o3
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 5.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 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
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
o3 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, CharXiv-R, ERQA, MMMU-Pro, VideoMMMU), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, o3 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 6.7x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, o3 ($8.00/1M tokens) is 5.4x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($1.49/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o3 is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to o3's 200,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while o3 is limited to 100,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both o3 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
o3
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
o3 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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
o3 was released on 2025-04-16, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 5 months newer than o3.
Apr 16, 2025
1.4 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
11 months ago
5mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm o3's training data extends to 2024-05-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date.
May 2024
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Provider Availability
o3 is available from OpenAI. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
o3
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against o3 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about o3 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.