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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (Qwen) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (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 VL 235B A22B Instruct holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#69 vs #104); and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B is 1.9× cheaper per output token ($1.00/1M vs $1.90/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B if…

  • API cost matters — $1.00/1M output tokens against $1.90/1M, about 1.9× cheaper.
  • AA τ²-Bench Telecom is your yardstick — 43.6% against 35.1%.

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #69 against #104 (61.4 vs 52.3 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.21/1M against $0.30/1M.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1465 against 1458.
  • AA Humanity's Last Exam is your yardstick — 6.6% against 4.5%.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was listed 23 September 2025, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B 23 July 2025.

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
FieldQwen3 Coder 480B A35BQwenQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen
ModelCap Index position#104#69
Index score52.361.4
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.30$0.21
Output price / 1M tokens$1.00$1.90
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens66K33K
API providers listed55
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image
First listed23 July 202523 September 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: Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Public benchmark boards where Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has a published result
BoardQwen3 Coder 480B A35BQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14581449–146714651452–1478Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
SWE-benchSWE-bench (Princeton / SWE-agent team)55.4%—Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis43.6%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct":reasoning=false35.1%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct":reasoning=falseQwen3 Coder 480B A35B
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis4.5%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B Instruct":reasoning=false6.6%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct":reasoning=falseQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

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 Coder 480B A35B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: common questions

Is Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B better than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #69 against #104. 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 overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B is cheaper on output tokens: $1.00/1M against $1.90/1M. Input tokens are $0.30/1M for Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B and $0.21/1M for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. 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 $1.10 for Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B versus $1.37 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B costs 19.7% 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, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Both publish a 262K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Arena coding: Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B 1458, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 1465 — Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct leads.

Are Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct open-weight models?

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B: Open weights. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: 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 Coder 480B A35B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B and 5 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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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