DeepSeek V3.2 vs Qwen 3 VL 30 B A3 B Thinking: cost comparison
Prices updated 2026-10-27 · computed from live provider data
Short answer: DeepSeek V3.2 is cheaper on a
3:1 input/output blend — $0.315 per million tokens versus
$0.468, a 33% difference.
Qwen 3 VL 30 B A3 B Thinking offers the larger context window at 262,144 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek V3.2.
Head to head
| DeepSeek V3.2 | Qwen 3 VL 30 B A3 B Thinking | |
|---|---|---|
| Input, per 1M tokens | $0.280 | $0.290 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $0.420 | $1.00 |
| Blended 3:1, per 1M | $0.315 | $0.468 |
| Context window | 163,840 | 262,144 |
| Vendor | deepseek | qwen |
Monthly cost at real volumes
| Workload (input / output) | DeepSeek V3.2 | Qwen 3 VL 30 B A3 B Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| 1M in / 250K out | $0.385 | $0.540 |
| 10M in / 2.5M out | $3.85 | $5.40 |
| 100M in / 25M out | $38.50 | $54.00 |
Which should you pick?
Pick Qwen 3 VL 30 B A3 B Thinking when you need the longer context window (262,144 vs 163,840 tokens). Pick DeepSeek V3.2 when price per token dominates your workload — high-volume classification, extraction, or batch summarisation.