DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, DeepSeek-V3.1 is 68% cheaper per million tokens than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. DeepSeek-V3.1 is $0.27 / $1.00 per million input/output tokens versus Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking at $0.45 / $3.49. 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/)

    Better value

    DeepSeek-V3.1

    DeepSeek

    $1.27blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.27

    Output

    $1.00

    163.8K ctx|Open Source
    68%
    cheaper

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Qwen

    $3.94blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.45

    Output

    $3.49

    262.1K ctx|Open Source
    Save $2.67 per million tokens by choosing DeepSeek-V3.1 over Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    DeepSeek-V3.1
    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
    Provider
    Provider
    DeepSeek
    Qwen
    License
    Open Source
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2025-01-10
    2025-09-22
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price-40%
    $0.27
    $0.45
    Output Price-71%
    $1.00
    $3.49
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $1.27
    $3.94
    Model Details
    Context Window
    163.8K
    262.1K
    Max Output Tokens
    163.8K
    262.1K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    N/A
    Throughput
    N/A
    N/A
    Benchmarks
    15.9%
    13.6%
    74.9%
    93.4%
    44.4%
    88.2%
    38.1%
    69.3%
    66.1%
    49.8%
    89.7%
    66.3%
    90.6%
    89.2%
    53.7%
    71.9%
    67.1%
    81.5%
    63.5%
    69.7%
    93.7%
    93.4%
    96.5%
    52.5%
    33.5%
    77.4%
    11%
    80%
    89.5%
    63.6%
    74.6%
    92.7%
    83.8%
    90.6%
    83.7%
    83.8%
    80.6%
    91.8%
    93.7%
    80.6%
    78.7%
    80.1%
    79.1%
    71.2%
    87.5%
    43.2%
    68.3%
    81.3%
    92.4%
    95.4%
    77.3%
    61.3%
    34.9%
    64.3%
    80%
    34.4%
    86.7%
    97.3%
    Benchmark Wins
    DeepSeek-V3.1 2|3 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Verdict

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

    DeepSeek-V3.1 offers significantly lower pricing, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking FAQ

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

    As of August 20, 2026, DeepSeek-V3.1 is 68% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs $0.27 per million input tokens and $1.00 per million output tokens ($1.27 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.45 / $3.49 per million tokens ($3.94 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking cost per million tokens?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 DeepSeek API pricing is $0.27 input and $1.00 output per million tokens via DeepSeek. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Qwen API pricing is $0.45 input and $3.49 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

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

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

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports a 164K token context window, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking supports 262K tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks versus DeepSeek-V3.1's 2 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking better for production use?

    Both DeepSeek-V3.1 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, DeepSeek-V3.1 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking in my app?

    Yes. Call DeepSeek-V3.1 through DeepSeek and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports up to 164K output tokens per request, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking supports up to 262K 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

    Neither DeepSeek-V3.1 nor Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has published throughput data on this page yet. 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.45/M input and $3.49/M output.

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

    The index

    All Large Language Models

    280 models across 33 providers. Search or jump to a lab — every model page stays linked here.

    Baidu

    1 models

    Inception

    1 models

    inclusionAI

    1 models

    LG AI Research

    1 models

    Nous Research

    1 models

    Sakana AI

    1 models

    StepFun

    1 models

    Tencent

    1 models

    Thinking Machines

    1 models

    Unisound

    1 models

    Upstage

    1 models

    Next step

    You found the model. Now ship the product.

    Auth, billing, and the API layer are already decided. Fork 8 finished AI apps, or have us build the first version with you.