Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 is $0.06 cheaper per 1M input tokens (28.8% lower; 1.4x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
DeepSeek V3.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
Pick DeepSeek V3.1 for lower cost; pick Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 only if the larger context window matters more.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick DeepSeek V3.1 for lower cost; pick Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 is estimated at $0.6 vs $0.9 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.29 (32.6% lower).
Cost-first pickDeepSeek V3.1
Context-first pickQwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
Sample savings$0.2932.6%
10x traffic gap$2.92
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has more context, but DeepSeek V3.1 saves $0.29 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $2.92. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
DeepSeek V3.1 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | DeepSeek V3.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | DeepSeek V3.1 | $1.45 | $1.5 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | DeepSeek V3.1 | $1 | $1.64 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | DeepSeek V3.1 | $4.16 | $7.62 |
DeepSeek V3.1 is $0.71 cheaper per 1M output tokens (47.2% lower; 1.89x difference).
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has 98.3K more context (1.6x larger).
DeepSeek V3.1 is $0.29 cheaper on the standard workload (32.6% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has the lower input price; DeepSeek V3.1 has the lower output price; Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, DeepSeek V3.1 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.6 for DeepSeek V3.1 and $0.9 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507.
Choose DeepSeek V3.1 when you care most about lower output-token price.
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 is estimated at $0.6 vs $0.9 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.29 (32.6% lower).
- DeepSeek V3.1 is $0.29 cheaper on the standard workload (32.6% lower).
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 is $0.06 cheaper per 1M input tokens (28.8% lower; 1.4x difference).
- DeepSeek V3.1 is $0.71 cheaper per 1M output tokens (47.2% lower; 1.89x difference).
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has 98.3K more context (1.6x larger).
| Feature | DeepSeek V3.1 (DeepSeek) | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.21 | $0.1495 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.79 | $1.495 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.6 | $0.9 |
| Context Window | 163.84K | 262.14K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #59 | #133 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | DeepSeek V3.1 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 is estimated at $0.6 vs $0.9 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.29 (32.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | DeepSeek V3.1 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace DeepSeek V3.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace DeepSeek V3.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.
- R1 Distill Qwen 32B can replace DeepSeek V3.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.43.
- DeepSeek V3.2 can replace DeepSeek V3.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.44.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
- Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4
Cheaper alternatives
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Open Qwen modelsDeepSeek-V3.1 is a large hybrid reasoning model (671B parameters, 37B active) that supports both thinking and non-thinking modes via prompt templates. It extends the DeepSeek-V3 base with a two-phase long-context...
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is a high-performance, open-weight Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model optimized for complex reasoning tasks. It activates 22B of its 235B parameters per forward pass and natively supports up to 262,144...