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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3.5-9B

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 (Qwen) and Qwen3.5-9B (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 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#60 vs #83); and Qwen3.5-9B is 1.3× cheaper per output token ($0.15/1M vs $0.193/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #60 against #83 (42.5 vs 28.6 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.048/1M against $0.10/1M.

Choose Qwen3.5-9B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.15/1M output tokens against $0.193/1M, about 1.3× cheaper.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.5-9B was listed 10 March 2026, Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 29 July 2025.

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3.5-9B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 and Qwen3.5-9B
FieldQwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507QwenQwen3.5-9BQwen
ModelCap Index position#60#83
Index score42.528.6
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.048$0.10
Output price / 1M tokens$0.193$0.15
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens32K262K
API providers listed55
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image, Video
First listed29 July 202510 March 2026
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3.5-9B

Public benchmark boards where Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 or Qwen3.5-9B has a published result
BoardQwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507Qwen3.5-9BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14401431–1448—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)41.4Function calling—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—21.8intelligence-indexOnly 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.

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3.5-9B: common questions

Is Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 better than Qwen3.5-9B?

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #60 against #83. 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.

Is Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 cheaper than Qwen3.5-9B?

Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.15/1M against $0.193/1M. Input tokens are $0.048/1M for Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 and $0.10/1M for Qwen3.5-9B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 or Qwen3.5-9B?

Both publish a 262K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 or Qwen3.5-9B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 and Qwen3.5-9B open-weight models?

Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507: Open weights. Qwen3.5-9B: 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 Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 and Qwen3.5-9B?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 and 5 for Qwen3.5-9B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 vs Qwen3.5-9B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 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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