DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) by DeepSeek or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-08-07.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3 Coder Next scores 7.1 points higher (21.3 vs 14.2) but costs 12× as much to run the benchmark ($250 vs $20.0; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3 Coder Next when you need intelligence above 14.2, and DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) when 14.2 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 14.2 | 21.3 | +50.0% Qwen3 Coder Next is 50.0% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $20.02 | $250.18 | +1149.7% Qwen3 Coder Next is 12× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 5.28s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.36 / $0.89 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24): 50.0% more intelligence, 1149.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (low) scores 33.90 for $13.7.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (max) scores 52.30 for $172.
DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3/qwen3-coder-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3/qwen3-coder-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill