| Signal | Grok 3 Mini | Delta | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | -- | |
Benchmarks | 77 | +11 | |
Pricing | 1 | -2 | |
Context window size | 81 | -- | |
Recency | 79 | -19 | |
Output Capacity | 20 | -55 | |
| Overall Result | 1 wins | of 6 | 3 wins |
6
days higher
3
days
21
days higher
xAI
Alibaba
Grok 3 Mini saves you $101.00/month
That's $1212.00/year compared to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Grok 3 Mini | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 67 | 68 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Rank | #74 | #72 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Quality Rank | #74 | #72 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Adoption Rank | #74 | #72 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Parameters | -- | 235B | -- |
| Context Window | 131K | 131K | -- |
| Pricing | $0.30/$0.50/M | $0.26/$2.60/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 83 | Grok 3 Mini |
| Benchmarks | 77 | 66 | Grok 3 Mini |
| Pricing | 1 | 3 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Context window size | 81 | 81 | Grok 3 Mini |
| Recency | 79 | 98 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Output Capacity | 20 | 75 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
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 67/100 (rank #74), placing it in the top 75% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 68/100 (rank #72), placing it in the top 76% of all 290 models tracked.
With only a 1-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.
Grok 3 Mini offers 72% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $12.00/month with Grok 3 Mini vs $42.90/month with Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking - a $30.90 monthly difference.
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. Grok 3 Mini also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (131K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.50/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (68/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
Grok 3 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking are extremely close in overall performance (only 0.5999999999999943 points apart). Your best choice depends entirely on which specific strengths matter most for your use case.
Best for Quality
Grok 3 Mini
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Grok 3 Mini
72% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Grok 3 Mini
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Grok 3 Mini
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Grok 3 Mini
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by xAI
| Capability | Grok 3 Mini | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Searchdiffers | ||
| Image Output |
xAI
Alibaba
Grok 3 Mini saves you $2.45/month
That's 68% cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 | Grok 3 Mini | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 131K | 131K |
| Max Output Tokens | -- | 32,768 |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Created | Jun 10, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking scores 68/100 (rank #72) compared to Grok 3 Mini's 67/100 (rank #74), giving it a 1-point advantage. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the stronger overall choice, though Grok 3 Mini may excel in specific areas like cost efficiency.
Grok 3 Mini is ranked #74 and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is ranked #72 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.
Grok 3 Mini is cheaper at $0.50/M output tokens vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking's $2.60/M output tokens - 5.2x more expensive. Input token pricing: Grok 3 Mini at $0.30/M vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking at $0.26/M.
Grok 3 Mini has a larger context window of 131,072 tokens compared to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking's 131,072 tokens. A larger context window means the model can process longer documents and conversations.