DeepSeek R1 vs Qwen3 235B: price and context
Both models ship as open weights; what differs is the invoice. Sweep stamp:
Verdict
Dated 2026-08-23, from verified rows only:
- Cheapest output: Qwen3 235B at $0.6/M via Together (4.00× gap).
- Wider context: Qwen3 235B at 262k tokens.
- Tradeoff: throughput and cache terms differ per provider — check each tracker page before committing.
| Model | Cheapest via | In $/M | Out $/M | Context | tok/s | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek R1 | Novita AI | $0.7 | $2.4 | 164k | — | |
| Qwen3 235B | Together | $0.2 | $0.6 | 262k | 40 |
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