Grok-3 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B
Grok-3 (2025) and Qwen3-235B-A22B (2025) are frontier reasoning models from xAI and Alibaba. Grok-3 ships a 131k-token context window, while Qwen3-235B-A22B ships a 128k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Qwen3-235B-A22B leads by 2.9 pts. On pricing, Qwen3-235B-A22B costs $0.09/1M input tokens versus $0.80/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Qwen3-235B-A22B is ~789% cheaper at $0.09/1M; pay for Grok-3 only for reasoning depth.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Grok-3 | Qwen3-235B-A22B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Long context |
| Context window | 131k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $2.40/1M tokens | $0.58/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 4 tracked | 5 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 5 shared | MMLU PRO leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Grok-3 holds a shared-benchmark lead on HumanEval, ahead by 1.8 points.
- Grok-3 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Grok-3 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Grok-3 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Qwen3-235B-A22B holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 2.9 points.
- Qwen3-235B-A22B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.58/1M tokens.
- Qwen3-235B-A22B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Qwen3-235B-A22B for Coding, RAG, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Grok-3
$1,240
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Chutes AI
Qwen3-235B-A22B
$217
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Novita AI
Estimated monthly gap: $1,023. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Qwen3-235B-A22B is $1.82/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Grok-3 is $1.82/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Grok-3 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-02-17 | 2025-04-29 |
| Context window | 131k | 128k |
| Parameters | — | 235B |
| Architecture | - | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Apache 2.0OSI-approved |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open source |
| Weights | Not released | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-04 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Grok-3 | Qwen3-235B-A22B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.80/1M tokens | $0.09/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.40/1M tokens | $0.58/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Grok-3 | Qwen3-235B-A22B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Grok-3 | Qwen3-235B-A22B |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 79.9 | 82.8 |
| Google-Proof Q&A | 84.6 | 86.1 |
| LiveCodeBench | 79.4 | 80.4 |
| HumanEval | 94.5 | 92.7 |
| Aider Polyglot | 53.3 | 59.6 |
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-10. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.