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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (Qwen) and Qwen3 235B A22B (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 22 September 2026

As of 22 September 2026, Qwen3 235B A22B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#86 vs #183); Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is 4.6× cheaper per output token ($0.40/1M vs $1.82/1M); Qwen3 235B A22B offers the longer context window (131K vs 33K tokens); and Qwen3 235B A22B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen2.5 72B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $0.40/1M output tokens against $1.82/1M, about 4.6× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.36/1M against $0.455/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.

Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #86 against #183 (56.0 vs 26.0 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 131K tokens against 33K.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 235B A22B ships open weights while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is restricted license.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1445 against 1355.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 235B A22B was listed 28 April 2025, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 19 September 2024.

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 235B A22B
FieldQwen2.5 72B InstructQwenQwen3 235B A22BQwen
ModelCap Index position#183#86
Index score26.056.0
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.36$0.455
Output price / 1M tokens$0.40$1.82
Context window33K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens16K8K
API providers listed21
Weight accessRestricted licenseOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed19 September 202428 April 2025
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Public benchmark boards where Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 235B A22B has a published result
BoardQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 235B A22BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13551348–136314451438–1453No thinkingQwen3 235B A22B
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis34.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen2.5 Instruct 72B":reasoning=false—Only one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis3.6%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen2.5 Instruct 72B":reasoning=false—Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B: common questions

Is Qwen2.5 72B Instruct better than Qwen3 235B A22B?

Qwen3 235B A22B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #86 against #183. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals do not overlap, but the aggregate Index does not predict performance on every task; compare the relevant benchmark configurations before choosing.

Is Qwen2.5 72B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3 235B A22B?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $0.40/1M against $1.82/1M. Input tokens are $0.36/1M for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and $0.455/1M for Qwen3 235B A22B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.92 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct versus $1.82 for Qwen3 235B A22B. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs 49.5% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 235B A22B?

Qwen3 235B A22B has the larger context window: 131K tokens against 33K.

Which is better for coding, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 235B A22B?

Arena coding: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 1355, Qwen3 235B A22B 1445 — Qwen3 235B A22B leads.

Are Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 235B A22B open-weight models?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: Restricted license. Qwen3 235B A22B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 235B A22B?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and 1 for Qwen3 235B A22B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 22 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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