Which is cheaper, GPT-3.5-turbo or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, at $1.05 per million tokens against $2.73 for GPT-3.5-turbo, three parts input to one part output, read on 16 Sept 2026.

Where is each one cheapest?

GPT-3.5-turbo: $2.73 at Poe. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking: $1.05 at Fireworks AI.

Can I buy both from one provider?

Yes. 5 providers sell both: Eden AI, TrustedRouter, Kilo Gateway, Nous Portal, OpenRouter. The cheapest of them for the two together is Eden AI.

Which holds more context?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, at 262k tokens against 16k.

GPT-3.5-turbo vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.

model vs model · prices as of 16 Sept 2026

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking takes 3 of 5 rounds against GPT-3.5-turbo. It is also the cheaper of the two to run, at $1.05 per million tokens against $2.73.

OpenAI

GPT-3.5-turbo

$2.73/M tokens

cheapest we can explain, at Poe · $0.355 per 1,000 pages

16k context

Poe ↗

Alibaba Cloudwins 3 rounds

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking

$1.05/M tokens

cheapest we can explain, at Fireworks AI · $0.126 per 1,000 pages

262k context · tool calling · reads images · open weights

Fireworks AI ↗

List price in (lower wins)

$0.50/M

$0.20/M

List price out (lower wins)

$1.50/M

$2.40/M

Cheapest we can explain (lower wins)

$2.73/M at Poe

$1.05/M at Fireworks AI

Standard price (lower wins)

$3/M

Cost per 1,000 pages (lower wins)

$0.355

$0.126

Context

16k tokens

262k tokens

Open weights

yes

Tool calling

yes

Structured output

yes

Reads images

yes

Reasoning

yes

Released

1 Mar 2023

6 Oct 2025

Providers selling it

Price we measure against

the maker's own

Trains on your prompts (no is better)

not stated

Providers selling both · 5

Eden AI$3 / $1.95
TrustedRouter$3.17 / $3.17
Kilo Gateway$5 / $3
Nous Portal$5 / $3
OpenRouter$5 / $3

GPT-3.5-turbo then Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, per million tokens

Go further

open in the compare tool →every price for GPT-3.5-turbo every price for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking

Add a third or fourth model, or switch the weighting, in the tool.

What moved in the last seven days

GPT-3.5-turboNous Portal$0.80 / $1.60 $1 / $225% dearer · 16 Sept 2026
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingNous Portal$0.16 / $1.92 $0.20 / $2.4025% dearer · 16 Sept 2026

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, GPT-3.5-turbo or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking?: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, at $1.05 per million tokens against $2.73 for GPT-3.5-turbo, three parts input to one part output, read on 16 Sept 2026.
Where is each one cheapest?: GPT-3.5-turbo: $2.73 at Poe. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking: $1.05 at Fireworks AI.
Can I buy both from one provider?: Yes. 5 providers sell both: Eden AI, TrustedRouter, Kilo Gateway, Nous Portal, OpenRouter. The cheapest of them for the two together is Eden AI.
Which holds more context?: Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking, at 262k tokens against 16k.

Prices exclude tax and are per million tokens, read 16 Sept 2026 from each provider's own catalog. The standard price blends three parts input to one part output; a page is 600 tokens in and 60 out. Bars are scaled to the larger value in each row.