DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, Qwen3 235B A22B is 84% cheaper per million tokens than DeepSeek-V3.1. DeepSeek-V3.1 is $0.27 / $1.00 per million input/output tokens versus Qwen3 235B A22B at $0.10 / $0.10. Sources: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://bailian.console.aliyun.com/

    Sources: DeepSeek API pricing (https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing); Qwen pricing (https://bailian.console.aliyun.com/)

    DeepSeek-V3.1

    DeepSeek

    $1.27blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.27

    Output

    $1.00

    163.8K ctx|Open Source
    84%
    cheaper
    Better value

    Qwen3 235B A22B

    Qwen

    $0.20blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.10

    Output

    $0.10

    128K ctx|Open Source
    Save $1.07 per million tokens by choosing Qwen3 235B A22B over DeepSeek-V3.1.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    DeepSeek-V3.1
    Qwen3 235B A22B
    Provider
    Provider
    DeepSeek
    Qwen
    License
    Open Source
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2025-01-10
    2025-04-29
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+170%
    $0.27
    $0.10
    Output Price+900%
    $1.00
    $0.10
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $1.27
    $0.20
    Model Details
    Context Window
    163.8K
    128K
    Max Output Tokens
    163.8K
    128K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    N/A
    Throughput
    N/A
    68.17 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    15.9%
    74.9%
    47.5%
    70.7%
    56.4%
    70.7%
    93.4%
    86.7%
    49.8%
    81.5%
    66.3%
    85.7%
    94.6%
    70.8%
    68.4%
    59.6%
    87.8%
    71.8%
    61.8%
    95.6%
    88.9%
    69.7%
    79%
    77.6%
    94.4%
    33.5%
    73.5%
    0%
    77.1%
    81.4%
    90.6%
    83.5%
    83.7%
    68.2%
    91.8%
    87.4%
    71.9%
    65.9%
    44.1%
    70.7%
    Benchmark Wins
    DeepSeek-V3.1 6|3 Qwen3 235B A22B

    Verdict

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B: the bottom line

    Qwen3 235B A22B offers significantly lower pricing, while DeepSeek-V3.1 leads on benchmark performance. Your choice depends on whether cost efficiency or raw capability matters more for your use case.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B FAQ

    Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

    As of August 20, 2026, Qwen3 235B A22B is 84% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. Qwen3 235B A22B costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.10 per million output tokens ($0.20 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). DeepSeek-V3.1 costs $0.27 / $1.00 per million tokens ($1.27 blended). Sources: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://bailian.console.aliyun.com/. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B cost per million tokens?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 DeepSeek API pricing is $0.27 input and $1.00 output per million tokens via DeepSeek. Qwen3 235B A22B Qwen API pricing is $0.10 input and $0.10 output per million tokens via Qwen. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 has a published SWE-bench Verified score of 66%. Qwen3 235B A22B does not have that eval on this page yet.

    What is the context window for DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports a 164K token context window, while Qwen3 235B A22B supports 128K tokens. DeepSeek-V3.1 offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 leads on 6 of 9 shared benchmarks versus Qwen3 235B A22B's 3 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B better for production use?

    Both DeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 235B A22B are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, Qwen3 235B A22B has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between DeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 235B A22B in my app?

    Yes. Call DeepSeek-V3.1 through DeepSeek and Qwen3 235B A22B through Qwen with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published DeepSeek API pricing and Qwen API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://bailian.console.aliyun.com/. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for DeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 235B A22B?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports up to 164K output tokens per request, while Qwen3 235B A22B supports up to 128K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

    Qwen3 235B A22B has a measured throughput of approximately 68.17 tokens/second. Throughput data for DeepSeek-V3.1 is not yet available. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open DeepSeek-V3.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs $0.27/M input and $1.00/M output. Qwen3 235B A22B costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

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