Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Updated October 21, 2026. 1 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct scores 60.4 and Beam 1.0 501B A23B 33.8 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking.
Pick Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct when output tokens cost 3.6x less; pick Beam 1.0 501B A23B when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens, or when the benchmark that matters is Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 1
- Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct only
- 15
- Beam 1.0 501B A23B only
- 27
- Like-for-like categories
- 1 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
No call
60.4 against 33.8, from different benchmarks with none in common.
Directional only
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a AA Intelligence Index result, 9.6.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B leads, 1253 against 1087.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.0002, Beam 1.0 501B A23B $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 60.4 from 1 benchmark, Beam 1.0 501B A23B 33.8 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Web design, 20.8 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: websites: Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 1087 against Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1253, 20.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct $0.28 against Beam 1.0 501B A23B $1.00 per million output tokens, 3.6x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct takes 262K tokens, Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1.05M.
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.
| Category | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Bars | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 1 |
CodingDirectional onlyFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 60.4% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | 49.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1437 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.3% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 15.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1473 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1461 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1443 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1436 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 9.6 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 34.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 51.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.8% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1442 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1447 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1451 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 29.0 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 29.0% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1459 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1475 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 70.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1376 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1433 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1087 | 1253 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1046 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1222 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1085 | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 32.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 32.7% | Not measured | Only Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1425 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1390 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1436 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1413 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1424 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1461 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1412 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1414 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1429 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1400 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1399 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct 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.
| Specification | Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct | Reflection Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Reflection |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | July 31, 2025 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.07 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.28 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 60.4 | 33.8 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct better than Beam 1.0 501B A23B for coding?
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct scores 60.4 and Beam 1.0 501B A23B 33.8 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking. Pick Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct when output tokens cost 3.6x less; pick Beam 1.0 501B A23B when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens, or when the benchmark that matters is Design Arena: websites, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.07 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens; Beam 1.0 501B A23B costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
Beam 1.0 501B A23B, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B comparison based on?
1 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Beam 1.0 501B A23B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.