budget
Grok 3 Mini vs Qwen Plus
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | Grok 3 Mini | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xai | dashscope |
| Model ID | xai/grok-3-mini | dashscope/qwen-plus |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.30 (25% cheaper) | $0.40 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $0.50 (58% cheaper) | $1.20 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.07 | — |
| Context window | 131kk tokens | 129kk tokens |
| Max output | 131kk tokens | 16kk tokens |
| Vision | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ✅ | ⬜ |
| Web search | ✅ | ⬜ |
| JSON schema | ⬜ | ⬜ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | Grok 3 Mini | Qwen Plus | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $0.40 | $0.64 | Grok 3 Mini saves 37% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $4.00 | $6.40 | Grok 3 Mini saves 38% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $40.00 | $64.00 | Grok 3 Mini saves 38% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Grok 3 Mini
$0.30/M
· 25% less than the other
Cheapest output
Grok 3 Mini
$0.50/M
· 58% less than the other
Larger context
Grok 3 Mini
131kk tokens · 2% larger window
More features
Grok 3 Mini
3 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.07/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
Grok 3 Mini
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$0.50/M output — 58% cheaper on output at scale
Grok 3 Mini
Agentic workflows & tool use
Supports 3 of 5 tracked capabilities (vision, function calling, caching, web search, JSON schema)
Grok 3 Mini
Cost-sensitive production at scale
$40.00/month at 100M-token scale — 38% cheaper than the alternative
Grok 3 Mini
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.