| Signal | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Delta | GLM 4.5 Air (free) |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 50 | -- | |
Pricing | 0 | -30 | |
Context window size | 83 | +1 | |
Recency | 88 | +1 | |
Output Capacity | 75 | -8 | |
| Overall Result | 2 wins | of 5 | 2 wins |
6
days higher
9
days
15
days higher
Alibaba
Zhipu AI
GLM 4.5 Air (free) saves you $20.50/month
That's $246.00/year compared to Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | GLM 4.5 Air (free) | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 40 | -- |
| Rank | #214 | #216 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Quality Rank | #214 | #216 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Adoption Rank | #214 | #216 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Parameters | 30B | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 160K | 131K | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Pricing | $0.07/$0.27/M | Free | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 50 | 50 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Pricing | 0 | 30 | GLM 4.5 Air (free) |
| Context window size | 83 | 81 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Recency | 88 | 87 | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct |
| Output Capacity | 75 | 83 | GLM 4.5 Air (free) |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Here's what the scores mean for these two models:
Scores 40/100 (rank #214), placing it in the top 27% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 40/100 (rank #216), placing it in the top 26% of all 290 models tracked.
With only a 0-point gap, these models are in the same performance tier. The practical difference in output quality is minimal - your choice should depend on pricing, latency requirements, and specific feature needs.
Both models are priced similarly, so the decision comes down to quality and features rather than cost.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Higher benchmark score (0/100) indicates stronger performance on coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Faster response time (speed score 0/100) is critical for user-facing chat. GLM 4.5 Air (free) also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (160K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.00/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (40/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct and GLM 4.5 Air (free) are extremely close in overall performance (only 0 points apart). Your best choice depends entirely on which specific strengths matter most for your use case.
Best for Quality
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
GLM 4.5 Air (free)
100% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Alibaba
| Capability | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | GLM 4.5 Air (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Modediffers | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Alibaba
Zhipu AI
GLM 4.5 Air (free) saves you $0.4500/month
That's 100% cheaper than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | GLM 4.5 Air (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 160K | 131K |
| Max Output Tokens | 32,768 | 96,000 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Jul 31, 2025 | Jul 25, 2025 |
Both Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct and GLM 4.5 Air (free) score 40/100, making them extremely close competitors. Choose based on pricing, provider ecosystem, or specific capability requirements.
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct is ranked #214 and GLM 4.5 Air (free) is ranked #216 out of 290+ AI models. Rankings use a composite score combining benchmark performance (90%) from MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations, with capabilities and context window as tiebreakers (10%). Scores update hourly.
GLM 4.5 Air (free) is cheaper at $0.00/M output tokens vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct's $0.27/M output tokens - 270.0x more expensive. Input token pricing: Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct at $0.07/M vs GLM 4.5 Air (free) at $0.00/M.
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a larger context window of 160,000 tokens compared to GLM 4.5 Air (free)'s 131,072 tokens. A larger context window means the model can process longer documents and conversations.