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 20.3 and 23.9 on the LLM Stats Score. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking cost the same.
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 20.3 and 23.9.
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.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
- you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $1.50/M output
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.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
24 reported for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct · 23 for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
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.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($0.15/1M tokens) costs the same as Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($1.50/1M tokens) costs the same as Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking cost the same.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking has 0.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct, making it 0.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 65,536 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 65,536 tokens.
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
Both models were released on 2025-09-10.
They likely represent similar generations of model development.
Sep 10, 2025
12 months ago
Sep 10, 2025
12 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is available from Novita. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is available from Novita.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Outputs Comparison
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.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.