Model Comparison

Qwen2 72B Instruct vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Qwen2 72B Instruct and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Qwen2 72B Instruct vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct — which is better?

Qwen2 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B 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.

Choose Qwen2 72B Instruct if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem

Choose Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Qwen2 72B Instruct and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

408.0B diff

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct has 408.0B more parameters than Qwen2 72B Instruct, making it 566.7% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
480.0Bparameters
72.0B
Qwen2 72B Instruct
480.0B
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen2 72B Instruct is licensed under tongyi-qianwen, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Qwen2 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen2 72B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct was released on 2025-01-31.

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is 6 months newer than Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Qwen2 72B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.9 years ago

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Jan 31, 2025

1.4 years ago

6mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen2 72B Instruct vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.

Which is better, Qwen2 72B Instruct or Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Qwen2 72B Instruct (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Qwen2 72B Instruct compare to Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct in benchmarks?

Qwen2 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.1%, CMMLU: 90.1%, HellaSwag: 87.6%, HumanEval: 86.0%, Winogrande: 85.1%. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct scores TAU-bench Retail: 77.5%, SWE-Bench Verified: 69.6%, BFCL-v3: 68.7%, Aider-Polyglot: 61.8%, TAU-bench Airline: 60.0%.

What are the main differences between Qwen2 72B Instruct and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (tongyi-qianwen vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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