Alibaba has launched a newer model, Qwen3.5 35B A3B, we suggest considering this model instead.

For more information, see Comparison of Qwen3.5 35B A3B to other models and API provider benchmarks for Qwen3.5 35B A3B.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct logo
Alibaba
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Open weights model

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Released October 2025

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct API Provider Benchmarking & Analysis

Model Comparison

Analysis of API providers for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct across performance metrics including latency (time to first token), output speed (output tokens per second), price and others. API providers benchmarked include Fireworks, Novita, Alibaba Cloud, Eigen AI.

Fastest

#1
Eigen AIEigen AI
269.4 t/s
#2
FireworksFireworks
151.0 t/s
#3
Alibaba CloudAlibaba Cloud
108.5 t/s
#4
NovitaNovita
93.2 t/s

Output speed

Total 4 providers

Lowest Latency

#1
FireworksFireworks
0.51 s
#2
NovitaNovita
2.11 s
#3
Alibaba CloudAlibaba Cloud
2.25 s
#4
Eigen AIEigen AI
2.92 s

Time to first answer token

Total 4 providers

Lowest Price

#1
Eigen AIEigen AI
$0.11
#2
NovitaNovita
$0.33
#3
Alibaba CloudAlibaba Cloud
$0.35
#4
FireworksFireworks
$0.50

Blended price (per 1M tokens, 3:1 Input-Output ratio)

Total 4 providers

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B is available through 4 API providers, each offering different performance characteristics and pricing. Below is a comparison of the key metrics across providers.

  • For output speed, the top providers are Eigen AI (269.4 t/s), Fireworks (151.0 t/s), Alibaba Cloud (108.5 t/s). Speed varies significantly across providers, with a 189% difference between the fastest and slowest.
  • For latency, Fireworks (0.51s), Novita (2.11s), Alibaba Cloud (2.25s) offer the lowest time to first token.
  • For pricing, Eigen AI (0.11), Novita (0.33), Alibaba Cloud (0.35) offer the lowest blended prices per 1M tokens. Prices vary up to 4.4x across providers.
  • Eigen AI provides an excellent balance of speed and cost-effectiveness. For the lowest latency, Fireworks is the best choice.

Highlights

Speed
Output tokens per second · Higher is better
End-to-End Response Time
Seconds · Lower is better
Price
USD per 1M tokens (3:1 input-output ratio) · Lower is better

Update: Default performance benchmarking workload has updated to 10k input tokens to better reflect production use cases. You can still select different workloads above.

Pricing

Pricing: Cache Hit, Input, and Output

USD per 1M tokens · Lower is better · 10,000 Input Tokens

Price per token for cached prompts (previously processed), typically offering a significant discount compared to regular input price, represented as USD per million tokens. The values shown here are the cache hit price; cache write and cache storage are billed separately and vary by provider — see "Cache pricing by provider" for detail.

Price per token included in the request/message sent to the API, represented as USD per million Tokens.

The blended bar shown here uses cache hit price only. Other caching costs differ by provider:

  • Anthropic: charges a separate cache write fee, with different rates for 5-minute and 1-hour TTLs (1-hour TTL is more expensive). Blended price charts use Anthropic cache write price for the input leg.
  • Google (Vertex/Gemini): charges a per-hour cache storage fee in addition to cache hit pricing. Some providers also use tiered pricing for prompts above 200K tokens.
  • OpenAI, DeepSeek, others: typically charge only cache hit pricing with no write or storage fee.

See Prompt Caching for the full breakdown.

Price per token generated by the model (received from the API), represented as USD per million Tokens.

Pricing: Blended Price

Blended at 3:1 (Input : Output) · USD per 1M tokens · Lower is better

Price per token, represented as USD per million Tokens. Price is a blend of cache hit, input, and output token prices using the selected ratio.

Price per token for cached prompts (previously processed), typically offering a significant discount compared to regular input price, represented as USD per million tokens. The values shown here are the cache hit price; cache write and cache storage are billed separately and vary by provider — see "Cache pricing by provider" for detail.

The blended bar shown here uses cache hit price only. Other caching costs differ by provider:

  • Anthropic: charges a separate cache write fee, with different rates for 5-minute and 1-hour TTLs (1-hour TTL is more expensive). Blended price charts use Anthropic cache write price for the input leg.
  • Google (Vertex/Gemini): charges a per-hour cache storage fee in addition to cache hit pricing. Some providers also use tiered pricing for prompts above 200K tokens.
  • OpenAI, DeepSeek, others: typically charge only cache hit pricing with no write or storage fee.

See Prompt Caching for the full breakdown.

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

Speed vs. Price

Blended at 3:1 (Input : Output) · Output speed: output tokens per second · Price: USD per 1M tokens
Most attractive quadrant
Alibaba Cloud
Eigen AI
Fireworks
Novita

Tokens per second received while the model is generating tokens (ie. after first chunk has been received from the API for models which support streaming).

Price per token, represented as USD per million Tokens. Price is a blend of cache hit, input, and output token prices using the selected ratio.

Price per token for cached prompts (previously processed), typically offering a significant discount compared to regular input price, represented as USD per million tokens. The values shown here are the cache hit price; cache write and cache storage are billed separately and vary by provider — see "Cache pricing by provider" for detail.

The blended bar shown here uses cache hit price only. Other caching costs differ by provider:

  • Anthropic: charges a separate cache write fee, with different rates for 5-minute and 1-hour TTLs (1-hour TTL is more expensive). Blended price charts use Anthropic cache write price for the input leg.
  • Google (Vertex/Gemini): charges a per-hour cache storage fee in addition to cache hit pricing. Some providers also use tiered pricing for prompts above 200K tokens.
  • OpenAI, DeepSeek, others: typically charge only cache hit pricing with no write or storage fee.

See Prompt Caching for the full breakdown.

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

Speed

Measured by Output Speed (tokens per second)

Output Speed

Output tokens per second · Higher is better · 10,000 Input Tokens

Tokens per second received while the model is generating tokens (ie. after first chunk has been received from the API for models which support streaming).

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

Latency vs. Output Speed

Latency: seconds to first token received · Output speed: output tokens per second · 10,000 Input Tokens
Most attractive quadrant
Size represents Price (USD per M Tokens)
Alibaba Cloud
Eigen AI
Fireworks
Novita

Tokens per second received while the model is generating tokens (ie. after first chunk has been received from the API for models which support streaming).

Time to first token received, in seconds, after API request sent. For reasoning models which share reasoning tokens, this will be the first reasoning token. For models which do not support streaming, this represents time to receive the completion.

Price per token, represented as USD per million Tokens. Price is a blend of cache hit, input, and output token prices using the selected ratio.

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

Latency

Measured by Time (seconds) to First Token

Time to First Token

Seconds to first token received · Lower is better · 10,000 Input Tokens

Time to first token received, in seconds, after API request sent. For reasoning models which share reasoning tokens, this will be the first reasoning token. For models which do not support streaming, this represents time to receive the completion.

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

End-to-End Response Time

Seconds to output 500 tokens, calculated based on time to first token, 'thinking' time for reasoning models, and output speed

End-to-End Response Time

Seconds to output 500 tokens, including reasoning model 'thinking' time · Lower is better · 10,000 Input Tokens

Seconds to receive a 500 token response. Key components:

  • Input time: Time to receive the first response token
  • Thinking time (only for reasoning models): Time reasoning models spend outputting tokens to reason prior to providing an answer. Amount of tokens based on the average reasoning tokens across a diverse set of 60 prompts (methodology details).
  • Answer time: Time to generate 500 output tokens, based on output speed

For fair comparison, the number of reasoning tokens is standardized across all providers for each model based on the model's representative query token counts.

Figures represent median (P50) measurement over the past 72 hours to reflect sustained changes in performance.

API Features

Function (Tool) Calling & JSON Mode

ModelsFunction callingJSON Mode
Fireworks logoFireworks
Novita logoNovita
Alibaba Cloud logoAlibaba Cloud
Eigen AI logoEigen AI

Indicates whether the provider supports function calling in their API. Function calling is also known as 'Tool Calling'.

Indicates whether the provider supports JSON mode in their API. When JSON mode is enabled, the models will always return a valid JSON object.

Context Window

Context window: tokens limit · Higher is better

Maximum number of combined input & output tokens. Output tokens commonly have a significantly lower limit (varied by model).

While models have their own context window, in cases this is limited by providers.

Summary Table of Key Comparison Metrics

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct providers

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is available through 4 API providers: Fireworks, Novita, Alibaba Cloud, and Eigen AI. Each provider offers different performance characteristics and pricing.

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is currently available through 4 API providers that we benchmark and track.

The fastest providers for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by output speed are Eigen AI (269.4 t/s), Fireworks (151.0 t/s), and Alibaba Cloud (108.5 t/s). Output speed measures how quickly tokens are generated after the model starts responding.

The providers with the lowest time to first token for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct are Fireworks (0.51s), Novita (2.11s), and Alibaba Cloud (2.25s). Lower latency means faster initial response time.

The most affordable providers for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by blended price are Eigen AI ($0.11 per 1M tokens), Novita ($0.33 per 1M tokens), and Alibaba Cloud ($0.35 per 1M tokens). Blended price uses a 3:1 input to output token ratio.

The providers with the lowest input token pricing for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct are Eigen AI ($0.05 per 1M input tokens), Novita ($0.20 per 1M input tokens), and Alibaba Cloud ($0.20 per 1M input tokens).

The providers with the lowest output token pricing for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct are Eigen AI ($0.30 per 1M output tokens), Fireworks ($0.50 per 1M output tokens), and Novita ($0.70 per 1M output tokens).

Prices for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct vary up to 4.4x across providers. The most affordable is Eigen AI at $0.11 per 1M tokens, while Fireworks charges $0.50 per 1M tokens.

Output speed for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct varies significantly across providers. Eigen AI is the fastest at 269.4 t/s, which is 2.9x faster than Novita at 93.2 t/s.

3 of 4 providers support JSON mode for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Fireworks, Novita, and Eigen AI.

All 4 providers of Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct support function calling (tool use).

The best provider for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct depends on your priorities: Eigen AI offers the highest output speed, Fireworks has the lowest latency, and Eigen AI provides the most competitive pricing.

When choosing a provider for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct, consider: output speed (for throughput-intensive tasks), latency (for interactive applications requiring quick first responses), pricing (for cost-sensitive workloads), and API features like JSON mode or function calling.

Yes, provider performance can vary over time due to infrastructure changes, load balancing, and updates. We continuously benchmark all providers and display historical performance trends in the "Over Time" charts.

For information about Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct's intelligence, capabilities, modalities, and how it compares to other models, see the model overview page. View model overview