Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking are closely matched at 20.1 and 23.8 on the LLM Stats Score. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is 1.4x cheaper per token.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 20.1 and 23.8.

In the 21 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking wins 19; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is roughly 1.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-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 LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

cost matters — it's about 1.4x cheaper per token
you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window

Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 19 of 21 exact shared results

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Better token value: Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Core performance indexes

LLM Stats Score

20.1

#205 · 24 evals

23.8

#178 · 22 evals

Best

Reasoning

19.9

#200 · 17 evals

24.5

#163 · 18 evals

Best

Agents

8.2

#141 · 1 evals

12.2

#111 · 1 evals

Best

Cost, coverage & limits

Benchmark wins

2 of 21

19 of 21

Best

Input price

$0.09 / M

Best

$0.15 / M

Output price

$1.10 / M

Best

$1.50 / M

Context window

262,144

Best

65,536

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

5 shared

Index

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Math

20.6#158 · 8 evals

26.5#104 · 8 evals

Tool use

4.2#165 · 6 evals

11.0#122 · 6 evals

Writing

10.0#74 · 7 evals

14.1#50 · 7 evals

Finance

26.0#52 · 5 evals

27.9#36 · 5 evals

Legal

25.8#45 · 4 evals

26.3#36 · 4 evals

Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

24 reported for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct · 23 for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

21 shared

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (Arena-Hard v2, WritingBench), while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is better at 18 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BFCL-v3, GPQA, HMMT25, IFEval, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, Multi-IF, PolyMATH, SuperGPQA, Tau2 Airline, Tau2 Retail, Tau2 Telecom, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail).

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Sep 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct costs less

For input processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($0.09/1M tokens) is 1.7x cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($1.10/1M tokens) is 1.4x cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers

Tue Sep 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Input tokens$0.09

Output tokens$1.10

Best providerDeepinfra

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Input tokens$0.15

Output tokens$1.50

Best providerNovita

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

0.0M diff

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking has 0.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct, making it 0.0% larger.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

80.0Bparameters

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

80.0Bparameters

80.0B

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

80.0B

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking's 65,536 tokens. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Input262,144 tokens

Output262,144 tokens

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Input65,536 tokens

Output65,536 tokens

Tue Sep 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Both models were released on 2025-09-10.

They likely represent similar generations of model development.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Sep 10, 2025

1.1 years ago

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Sep 10, 2025

1.1 years ago

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

Provider Availability

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is available from Novita.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $0.09/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.10/1M

Novita

Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Novita

Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M

* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

✓ Preferred

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.

Which is better, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct or Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 20.1 and 23.8. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct compare to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking in benchmarks?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct scores MMLU-Redux: 90.9%, MultiPL-E: 87.8%, IFEval: 87.6%, WritingBench: 87.3%, Creative Writing v3: 85.3%. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking scores MMLU-Redux: 92.5%, IFEval: 88.9%, AIME 2025: 87.8%, WritingBench: 84.6%, MMLU-Pro: 82.7%.

Is Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is 1.7x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct costs $0.09/M input and $1.10/M output via deepinfra. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking costs $0.15/M input and $1.50/M output via novita.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct supports 262K tokens and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking supports 66K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (20.1 vs 23.8), context window (262K vs 66K), input pricing ($0.09 vs $0.15/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking