AI model comparison
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking vs DeepSeek V3 0324
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B-Thinking is a multimodal model that unifies strong text generation with visual understanding for images and videos. Its Thinking variant enhances reasoning in STEM, math, and complex tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $0.29
- Output / 1M
- $1
- Context
- 262K
DeepSeek
DeepSeek V3 0324
DeepSeek V3, a 685B-parameter, mixture-of-experts model, is the latest iteration of the flagship chat model family from the DeepSeek team.
- Input / 1M
- $0.29
- Output / 1M
- $1.14
- Context
- 164K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
1.1x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
DeepSeek V3 0324
9.7 vs 9.5 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
262K vs 164K tokens
Newer release
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
Released October 6, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking9.5DeepSeek V3 03249.7Coding index
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingNot availableDeepSeek V3 032421.2Agentic index
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingNot availableDeepSeek V3 03240.8Pricing
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking vs DeepSeek V3 0324 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.29 | $0.29 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1 | $1.14 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | Not available | $0.11 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking$1.08DeepSeek V3 0324$1.15Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking$12.70DeepSeek V3 0324$13.26$7.86 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking$45.50DeepSeek V3 0324$45.78$18.78 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 164K tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 115K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | October 6, 2025 | March 24, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Not supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Not supported | Not supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingView full model details- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking vs Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507
- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking vs Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
- Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
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DeepSeek V3 0324View full model details- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs GPT-4.1 Mini
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs DeepSeek V3.1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Coder Next
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Llama 4 Maverick
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs R1 0528
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs R1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs GLM 4.6V
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Large 3 2512
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Medium 3.1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Medium 3
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Devstral 2 2512
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Sonar
Our take
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 1.1x cheaper for a typical chat. DeepSeek V3 0324 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (9.7 vs 9.5). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking has the larger context window (262K vs 164K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking or DeepSeek V3 0324 cheaper?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking costs $0.29 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens, while DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.29 per 1M input tokens and $1.14 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking or DeepSeek V3 0324?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 164K for DeepSeek V3 0324.
Is Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking smarter than DeepSeek V3 0324?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking scores 9.5 and DeepSeek V3 0324 scores 9.7, putting DeepSeek V3 0324 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking and DeepSeek V3 0324 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking and DeepSeek V3 0324 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking and DeepSeek V3 0324 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.