API cost decision in 10 seconds

Qwen3 8B vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B

Pick Qwen3 8B for lower cost; pick Qwen3.5-122B-A10B only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T19:08:13Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3 8B for lower cost; pick Qwen3.5-122B-A10B only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $1.3 for Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, saving $1.05 (80.8% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3 8B

Context-first pickQwen3.5-122B-A10B

Sample savings$1.0580.8%

10x traffic gap$10.5

Qwen3.5-122B-A10B has more context, but Qwen3 8B saves $1.05 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $10.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3 8B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Qwen3 8B	Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3 8B	$0.45	$2.34
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3 8B	$0.45	$2.34
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3 8B	$2.05	$10.66

Cheaper input Qwen3 8B $0.05 vs $0.26 / 1M

Qwen3 8B is $0.21 cheaper per 1M input tokens (80.8% lower; 5.2x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3 8B $0.4 vs $2.08 / 1M

Qwen3 8B is $1.68 cheaper per 1M output tokens (80.8% lower; 5.2x difference).

Larger context Qwen3.5-122B-A10B 131.07K vs 262.14K

Qwen3.5-122B-A10B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3 8B $0.25 vs $1.3

Qwen3 8B is $1.05 cheaper on the standard workload (80.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Qwen3 8B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Qwen3.5-122B-A10B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

Qwen3 8B has the lower input price; Qwen3 8B has the lower output price; Qwen3.5-122B-A10B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3 8B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.25 for Qwen3 8B and $1.3 for Qwen3.5-122B-A10B.

Best Fit

Choose Qwen3 8B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose Qwen3.5-122B-A10B when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $1.3 for Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, saving $1.05 (80.8% lower).
Qwen3 8B is $1.05 cheaper on the standard workload (80.8% lower).
Qwen3 8B is $0.21 cheaper per 1M input tokens (80.8% lower; 5.2x difference).
Qwen3 8B is $1.68 cheaper per 1M output tokens (80.8% lower; 5.2x difference).
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Qwen3 8B (Qwen)	Qwen3.5-122B-A10B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.05	$0.26
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.4	$2.08
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.25	$1.3
Context Window	131.07K	262.14K
Release Date	2025-04-28	2026-02-25
Popularity	#102	#142

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3 8B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3 8B is estimated at $0.25 vs $1.3 for Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, saving $1.05 (80.8% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3 8B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Qwen3 8B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Qwen3.5-122B-A10B	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3 8B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3 8B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct can replace Qwen3 8B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
Qwen3.5-9B can replace Qwen3 8B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.

Larger context near this budget

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.

Popular competitors

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Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Qwen catalog

Review all tracked Qwen models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open Qwen models

Qwen3 8B

Qwen3-8B is a dense 8.2B parameter causal language model from the Qwen3 series, designed for both reasoning-heavy tasks and efficient dialogue. It supports seamless switching between "thinking" mode for math,...

Qwen3.5-122B-A10B

The Qwen3.5 122B-A10B native vision-language model is built on a hybrid architecture that integrates a linear attention mechanism with a sparse mixture-of-experts model, achieving higher inference efficiency. In terms of...