A powerful multimodal model excelling in visual understanding, offering robust performance for complex image-to-text tasks.
The Qwen3 VL 235B A22B model emerges as a significant contender in the multimodal AI landscape, specifically designed for tasks requiring a deep understanding of both text and visual inputs. Developed by Alibaba, this open-license model offers a substantial 262k token context window, enabling it to process and generate highly detailed responses based on complex visual information and extensive textual prompts. Its 'VL' designation highlights its core strength in Vision-Language tasks, making it a go-to choice for applications ranging from advanced image captioning to visual document analysis and interactive visual question answering.
Benchmarked on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B achieves a score of 44, positioning it above the average of 33 for comparable models. This indicates a strong capability in understanding and processing complex instructions, especially when visual data is involved. However, it's important to note its classification as a 'non-reasoning' model, meaning its strengths lie in pattern recognition and information synthesis rather than complex logical inference or problem-solving. During evaluation, the model demonstrated a high degree of verbosity, generating 19 million tokens compared to an average of 11 million, which can have implications for both processing time and cost.
While its intelligence is commendable, the model's performance profile reveals a trade-off in speed and cost. With an average output speed of 38 tokens per second, it falls below the class average of 45 tokens per second. Pricing is also a factor, with input tokens costing $0.70 per million (above the average of $0.56) and output tokens at $2.80 per million (compared to an average of $1.67). This positions Qwen3 VL 235B A22B as a somewhat more expensive option, particularly for high-volume or verbose applications. The total evaluation cost for the Intelligence Index was $93.89, underscoring the importance of provider selection and optimization strategies.
Despite these considerations, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B's robust multimodal capabilities and large context window make it an invaluable asset for developers building sophisticated visual AI applications. Its open-license nature further enhances its appeal, offering flexibility and control. Strategic provider selection and careful prompt engineering are key to harnessing its power efficiently, balancing its strong visual understanding with cost and speed considerations to achieve optimal real-world performance.
44 (#10 / 30 / 30)
38.2 tokens/s
$0.70 $/M tokens
$2.80 $/M tokens
19M tokens
0.31s seconds (TTFT)
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| Model Name | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct |
| Developer | Alibaba |
| License | Open |
| Modality | Multimodal (Vision-Language) |
| Input Types | Text, Image |
| Output Types | Text |
| Context Window | 262k tokens |
| Intelligence Index | 44 (Above Average) |
| Average Output Speed | 38.2 tokens/s (Slower than Average) |
| Average Input Price | $0.70 / 1M tokens (Somewhat Expensive) |
| Average Output Price | $2.80 / 1M tokens (Somewhat Expensive) |
| Verbosity | 19M tokens (Very Verbose) |
| Key Feature | Robust visual understanding and generation |
Optimizing the performance and cost-efficiency of Qwen3 VL 235B A22B heavily relies on selecting the right API provider. Each provider offers a unique balance of speed, latency, and pricing, catering to different application priorities. The following table highlights key providers and their strengths for this specific model.
| Priority | Pick | Why | Tradeoff to accept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prioritize Speed | Eigen AI | Unmatched output speed (71 t/s) for high-throughput applications requiring rapid text generation from visual inputs. | Higher blended price ($1.00/M tokens) and latency (1.01s) compared to other top contenders. |
| Prioritize Latency | Deepinfra (FP8) | Offers the lowest time to first token (0.31s), critical for interactive user experiences and real-time visual analysis. | Moderate output speed and a blended price of $0.60/M tokens, which is competitive but not the absolute lowest. |
| Prioritize Cost | Fireworks | The most cost-effective option with the lowest blended price ($0.39/M tokens), and competitive input/output token pricing. | Moderate output speed (44 t/s) and latency (0.58s), not leading in performance but offering excellent value. |
| Balanced Performance | Novita | Provides a solid all-around performance with competitive output speed (29 t/s), latency (0.92s), and a blended price of $0.60/M tokens. | Doesn't lead in any single metric but offers a reliable and cost-effective middle ground for general use cases. |
| FP8 Efficiency | Parasail (FP8) | Excellent latency (0.53s) and efficient FP8 quantization, balancing speed and resource utilization. | Higher blended price ($1.00/M tokens) and lower output speed (27 t/s) compared to other optimized providers. |
Note: Performance metrics can vary based on specific workload, region, and API configuration. Prices are subject to change by providers.
Understanding the real-world cost of using Qwen3 VL 235B A22B involves more than just token prices; it requires considering typical usage patterns and the model's inherent verbosity. Below are estimated costs for common multimodal scenarios, using Fireworks as the provider due to its cost-effectiveness (Input: $0.22/M, Output: $0.88/M).
| Scenario | Input | Output | What it represents | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image Captioning | 1 image, 50 text tokens | 150 text tokens | Generating a concise description for a single image. | ~$0.000143 |
| Visual Document Analysis | 5 images, 500 text tokens | 300 text tokens | Extracting key information from a multi-page visual document. | ~$0.000374 |
| Interactive Visual Q&A (5 turns) | 5 images, 500 text tokens (total) | 400 text tokens (total) | Engaging in a short conversation about visual content. | ~$0.000462 |
| Content Moderation (Visual) | 10 images, 200 text tokens | 100 text tokens | Analyzing multiple images for policy violations with brief textual context. | ~$0.000132 |
| Detailed Visual Description | 1 image, 20 text tokens | 500 text tokens | Generating an extensive, descriptive narrative for a single complex image. | ~$0.000444 |
These scenarios highlight that while individual requests might seem inexpensive, costs can quickly accumulate with high-volume usage or verbose outputs, especially for detailed visual descriptions. Strategic prompt engineering to manage output length and leveraging cost-optimized providers like Fireworks are crucial for budget control.
Effectively managing the operational costs of Qwen3 VL 235B A22B requires a multi-faceted approach, considering both model characteristics and provider offerings. Here are key strategies to optimize your expenditure without compromising performance:
The choice of API provider is arguably the most impactful decision for cost optimization. As benchmarks show, prices can vary significantly. Evaluate providers not just on blended rates, but also on their input and output token pricing, as well as their performance metrics like speed and latency, which indirectly affect cost through efficiency.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B is noted for its verbosity. While this can be beneficial for detailed responses, it directly translates to higher output token costs. Carefully crafted prompts can guide the model to be more concise without losing essential information.
Since output tokens are significantly more expensive than input tokens, minimizing unnecessary output is crucial. This goes beyond prompt engineering and involves how you handle the model's responses.
For applications with a high volume of requests, especially those that don't require immediate real-time responses, batching requests can improve efficiency and potentially reduce costs, depending on the provider's pricing model for batched calls.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B is a powerful multimodal (Vision-Language) AI model developed by Alibaba. It is designed to understand and generate text based on both textual and image inputs, making it highly capable for a wide range of visual AI tasks. It operates under an open license, offering flexibility for developers.
Its primary use cases include advanced image captioning, visual question answering (VQA), visual document analysis, content generation from images, and multimodal content moderation. Its ability to process large context windows also makes it suitable for detailed analysis of complex visual data.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B scores 44 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above the average for comparable models. This indicates strong capabilities in understanding and executing complex instructions, particularly in multimodal contexts. However, it is classified as a 'non-reasoning' model, meaning its strengths are in pattern recognition and information synthesis rather than deep logical inference.
Compared to the average for its class, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B is somewhat more expensive, with input tokens at $0.70/M and output tokens at $2.80/M. Its high verbosity during generation can also contribute to higher costs. However, strategic provider selection and prompt engineering can significantly mitigate these expenses.
The model boasts a substantial context window of 262,000 tokens. This large capacity allows it to process and retain a vast amount of information from both text and images within a single interaction, enabling more comprehensive and coherent responses for complex tasks.
Performance varies by metric: Eigen AI offers the fastest output speed (71 t/s), Deepinfra (FP8) provides the lowest latency (0.31s), and Fireworks is the most cost-effective ($0.39/M blended price). Novita offers a balanced performance, while Parasail (FP8) provides good latency with FP8 efficiency. The 'best' provider depends on your specific application priorities.
Yes, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B is a multimodal model specifically designed to accept both text and image inputs. It can interpret visual information from images and combine it with textual prompts to generate relevant text-based outputs, making it ideal for tasks requiring visual understanding.
Being a 'non-reasoning' model means Qwen3 VL 235B A22B excels at tasks that involve pattern matching, information extraction, summarization, and generation based on learned data. It is not designed for complex logical deduction, abstract problem-solving, or tasks requiring deep causal reasoning. Its strength lies in its ability to understand and synthesize information from its training data, particularly across modalities.