Model Comparison
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 1.2x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking outperforms in 11 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BFCL-v3, HMMT25, IFEval, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, Multi-IF, SuperGPQA), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (Arena-Hard v2, Include, WritingBench). Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is roughly 1.2x 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.
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 11 of 14 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 1.2x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking outperforms in 11 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BFCL-v3, HMMT25, IFEval, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, Multi-IF, SuperGPQA), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (Arena-Hard v2, Include, WritingBench).
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens) is 2.0x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens) is 1.0x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($1.49/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 156.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking, making it 195.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking's 65,536 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking does not.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking was released on 2025-09-10, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 0 month newer than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.
Sep 10, 2025
10 months ago
Sep 22, 2025
10 months ago
1w newerKnowledge 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-Thinking is available from Novita. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.