Falcon 180B vs Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct
Falcon 180B (2023) and Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct (2024) are compact production models from Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and Alibaba. Falcon 180B ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct ships a 33k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Falcon 180B | Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | Classification | Classification and JSON / Tool use |
| Context window | — | 33k |
| Cheapest output | - | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Falcon 180B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Falcon 180B for Classification.
- Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct for Classification and JSON / Tool use.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Falcon 180B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct
$735
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Together AI
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Falcon 180B and Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct and Falcon 180B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2023-11-28 | 2024-06-07 |
| Context window | — | 33k |
| Parameters | 180B | 72B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Apache 2.0(OSI) | Apache 2.0(OSI) |
| Openness | Open source | Open source |
| Commercial use | Commercial use allowed | Commercial use allowed |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Falcon 180B | Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Falcon 180B | Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on structured outputs: Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
Pricing coverage is uneven: Falcon 180B has no token price sourced yet and Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct has $0.70/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 2 tracked routes versus 1. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Falcon 180B when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct when provider fit are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency. For teams standardizing a stack, that distinction is often the difference between a benchmark win and a reliable deployment.
FAQ
Is Falcon 180B or Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct open source?
Falcon 180B is listed under Apache 2.0. Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is listed under Apache 2.0. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for structured outputs, Falcon 180B or Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct?
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct has the clearer documented structured outputs signal in this comparison. If structured outputs is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Falcon 180B and Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct?
Falcon 180B is available on Alibaba Cloud PAI-EAS and Scale AI GenAI Platform. Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is available on Together AI. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Falcon 180B over Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct?
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Falcon 180B; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.