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Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B leads Qwen2.5 72B Instruct on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 11.9 to 7.7, and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs 3.8x less per output token ($0.40 vs $1.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 38 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Replace Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Qwen2.5 72B InstructQwen
Coding
No data
Overall
7.7
Output $/M
$0.40
0
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35BQwen
Coding
No data
Overall
11.9
Output $/M
$1.50
38
vs boards won of 38 shared

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B: which to pick

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick Qwen2.5 72B Instruct for output tokens 3.8x cheaper ($0.40 vs $1.50 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

Model AQwen2.5 72B InstructQwenNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BQwen3 Coder 480B A35BQwenNot benchmarked1 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved task
Shared results
38
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct only
15
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B only
14
Like-for-like categories
7 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct not benchmarked, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B not benchmarked.
Widest category
Coding, 21.5 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run): Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 27.6% against Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B 58.5%, 30.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct $0.40 against Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B $1.50 per million output tokens, 3.8x apart.
Context window
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct takes 33K tokens, Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B 262K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryQwen2.5 72B InstructBarsQwen3 Coder 480B A35BTies
Coding05
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning05
Math04
Knowledge05
General017
All shared boards038
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index05
Coding benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
SWE-bench VerifiedNot measured69.6%Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
LMArena WebDevNot measured1275Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)27.6%58.5%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)4.5%18.9%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Terminal-BenchNot measured27.2%Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
GSO-BenchNot measured4.9%Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
WeirdML16.0%41.2%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
ALE-BenchNot measured461.4Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
LMArena Text: coding12921412Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: software and IT12921393Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena WebDev: ReactNot measured1257Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
LMArena WebDev: HTMLNot measured1287Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
AA Intelligence Index7.711.9Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Epoch Capabilities Index129.0Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
τ²-Bench Telecom34.5%43.6%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
METR time horizons35.8%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
BALROG16.2%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
TheAgentCompany5.7%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
Reasoning benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)49.1%61.8%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)3.6%4.5%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)49.1%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
BIG-Bench Hard79.8%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts12711372Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: expert12451338Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English12791380Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
Math benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
AA Math Index14.039.3Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)14.0%39.3%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
OTIS Mock AIME8.1%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
MATH level 563.2%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
LMArena Text: math12831365Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: mathematical work12901367Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
Knowledge benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)72.0%78.8%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
MMLU85.3%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
AI2 Reasoning Challenge94.5%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
LMArena Text: science12751347Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare12581347Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: legal and government12881358Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: business and finance12531343Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
Design Arena: websitesNot measured1159Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Design Arena: UI componentsNot measured1113Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Design Arena: game devNot measured1099Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Design Arena: data vizNot measured1084Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Design Arena: all code categoriesNot measured1143Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
General benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
IFBench36.9%40.5%Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)Not measured45.7%Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
DTBench62.9%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
LMCA13.4%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
HellaSwag84.8%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
WinoGrande82.3%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
PIQA82.6%Not measuredOnly Qwen2.5 72B Instruct measured
LMArena Text12691357Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: instruction following12541355Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: creative writing12211333Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: English12831359Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: non-English12521346Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: Chinese12731357Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: German12341325Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: Japanese11801311Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: Korean11881305Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: French12801398Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: Spanish12551360Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: Russian12641366Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: PolishNot measured1344Only Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn12721366Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: longer queries12811378Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: writing and language12471340Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
LMArena Text: entertainment and media12111317Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
BenchmarkQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35BLeader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$0.0006Fits in one request
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B$0.0010Fits in one request

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$0.019Exceeds the context window
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B$0.019Fits in one request

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$0.076Exceeds the context window
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B$0.075Fits in one request

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B
SpecificationQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Coder 480B A35B
MakerQwenQwen
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedSeptember 19, 2024July 23, 2025
Context window33K262K
Input $/Mtok$0.36$0.30
Output $/Mtok$0.40$1.50
Coding indexNot benchmarkedNot benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it01
Cost per solved taskNot computableNot computable
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Qwen2.5 72B Instruct better than Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B for coding?

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Qwen2.5 72B Instruct for output tokens 3.8x cheaper ($0.40 vs $1.50 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs $0.36 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B costs $0.30 and $1.50. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B?

Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B, with 262K tokens against 33K.

How many benchmarks is the Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B comparison based on?

38 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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