Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B.
model vs model · prices as of
Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B takes 4 of 5 rounds against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct. It is also the cheaper of the two to run, at $0.76 per million tokens against $1.48.
Alibaba CloudQwen2.5 72B Instruct
$1.48/M tokens
OpenRouter list price, nothing below it is accounted for · $0.24 per 1,000 pages
33k context · tool calling · open weights
Alibaba Cloudwins 4 roundsQwen3-VL 30B-A3B
$0.76/M tokens
cheapest we can explain, at Alibaba Cloud (China) · $0.0907 per 1,000 pages
131k context · tool calling · reads images · open weights
List price in (lower wins)
$0.36/M
$0.20/M
List price out (lower wins)
$0.40/M
$0.80/M
Cheapest we can explain (lower wins)
none below list
$0.76/M at Alibaba Cloud (China)
Standard price (lower wins)
$1.48/M
$1.40/M
Cost per 1,000 pages (lower wins)
$0.24
$0.0907
Context
33k tokens
131k tokens
Open weights
yes
yes
Tool calling
yes
yes
Structured output
yes
not stated
Reads images
no
yes
Reasoning
no
yes
Released
19 Sept 2024
1 Apr 2025
Providers selling it
9
16
Price we measure against
OpenRouter
the maker's own
Trains on your prompts (no is better)
no provider to check
not stated
Providers selling both · 6
Kilo Gateway$1.48 / $0.91
Nous Portal$1.48 / $0.91
DeepInfra$1.48 / $1.05
OpenRouter$1.48 / $1.05
TrustedRouter$1.63 / $1.11
Novita$1.54 / $1.30
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct then Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B, per million tokens
Go further
Add a third or fourth model, or switch the weighting, in the tool.
What moved in the last seven days
- Qwen2.5 72B InstructNous Portal$0.29 / $0.32 $0.36 / $0.4025% dearer ·
- Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BNous Portal$0.10 / $0.42 $0.13 / $0.5225% dearer ·
- Qwen3-VL 30B-A3BTrustedRouter$0.16 / $0.58 $0.16 / $0.635% dearer ·
Frequently asked
- Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B?
- Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B, at $0.76 per million tokens against $1.48 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct, three parts input to one part output, read on 16 Sept 2026.
- Where is each one cheapest?
- Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: nobody goes below OpenRouter's own price with a reason we can point at, so $1.48 is the number to beat. Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B: $0.76 at Alibaba Cloud (China).
- Can I buy both from one provider?
- Yes. 6 providers sell both: Kilo Gateway, Nous Portal, DeepInfra, OpenRouter, TrustedRouter, Novita. The cheapest of them for the two together is Kilo Gateway.
- Which holds more context?
- Qwen3-VL 30B-A3B, at 131k tokens against 33k.
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.