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Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs QwQ-32B-Preview

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched at 16.5 and 9.2 on the LLM Stats Score. QwQ-32B-Preview is 2.0x cheaper per token.

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

Which is better?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 16.5 and 9.2.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, QwQ-32B-Preview is roughly 2.0x 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 LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025

Choose QwQ-32B-Preview

  • cost matters — it's about 2.0x cheaper per token

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
16.5
#211
9.2
#259
Reasoning
15.2
#214
9.5
#251
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
$0.20 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$0.70 / M
$0.20 / M
Context window
131,072
32,768

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
QwQ-32B-Preview
Math
16.9#193
9.2#247
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

50 reported for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct · 4 for QwQ-32B-Preview

1 shared

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while QwQ-32B-Preview is better at 0 benchmarks.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Sep 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

QwQ-32B-Preview costs less

For input processing, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.70/1M tokens) is 3.5x more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview ($0.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is more expensive than QwQ-32B-Preview.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Sep 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Input tokens$0.20
Output tokens$0.70
Best providerNovita
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.20
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1.5B diff

QwQ-32B-Preview has 1.5B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, making it 4.8% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
31.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
32.5Bparameters
31.0B
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
32.5B
QwQ-32B-Preview

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to QwQ-32B-Preview's 32,768 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 32,768 tokens.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Mon Sep 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas QwQ-32B-Preview does not.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

QwQ-32B-Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

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 VL 30B A3B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

QwQ-32B-Preview

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22, while QwQ-32B-Preview was released on 2024-11-28.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 10 months newer than QwQ-32B-Preview.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

11 months ago

9mo newer
QwQ-32B-Preview

Nov 28, 2024

1.8 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

QwQ-32B-Preview has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-28, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm QwQ-32B-Preview's training data extends to 2024-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct's cutoff date.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

—

QwQ-32B-Preview

Nov 2024

Provider Availability

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra. QwQ-32B-Preview is available from DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks, Together.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.70/1M
deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.29/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.99/1M

QwQ-32B-Preview

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M
hyperbolic logo
Hyperbolic
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.89/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.89/1M
together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $1.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
✓ Preferred
QwQ-32B-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vs QwQ-32B-Preview.

Which is better, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct or QwQ-32B-Preview?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 16.5 and 9.2. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and QwQ-32B-Preview 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 VL 30B A3B Instruct compare to QwQ-32B-Preview in benchmarks?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 95.0%, ScreenSpot: 94.7%, OCRBench: 90.3%, MMLU-Redux: 88.4%, MMBench-V1.1: 87.0%. QwQ-32B-Preview scores MATH-500: 90.6%, GPQA: 65.2%, AIME 2024: 50.0%, LiveCodeBench: 50.0%.

Is Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct cheaper than QwQ-32B-Preview?

QwQ-32B-Preview is 1.3x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.20/M input and $0.70/M output via novita. QwQ-32B-Preview costs $0.15/M input and $0.20/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports 131K tokens and QwQ-32B-Preview supports 33K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct and QwQ-32B-Preview?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (16.5 vs 9.2), context window (131K vs 33K), input pricing ($0.20 vs $0.15/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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