Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct is 3.6x cheaper per token.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct is roughly 3.6x 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.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 3.6x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct ($0.09/1M tokens) is 2.2x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct ($0.09/1M tokens) is 7.8x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.70/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct has 1.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, making it 3.2% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 12 months newer than Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct.
Sep 19, 2024
1.9 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
11 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
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.