Qwen lists 71 models and Scaledown 2. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Qwen | Scaledown | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 71 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 71 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.42 | $0.03 |
| Cheapest paid model | Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct ($0.04) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Longest context | Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B (1.0M) | ScaleDown: Extract (1M) |
| Free models | 5 | 0 |
| Newest model | Qwen: Qwen3.8 Max Prime (2026-09-23) | ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 143 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Qwen | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $4.05 with Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct | $3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $4.50 with Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct | $4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $5.16 with Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $2.94 with Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct | $3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $1.63 with Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash | $2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| You need | Qwen | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct ($0.04) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With tool calling | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash ($0.06) | none listed |
| With image input | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash ($0.06) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With reasoning mode | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash ($0.06) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash ($0.06) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| 1M+ context | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Flash ($0.06) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Model type | Qwen | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+audio+video->text | 1 | 0 |
| text+image+file->text | 0 | 2 |
| text+image+video->text | 20 | 0 |
| text+image->text | 13 | 0 |
| text->text | 37 | 0 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Qwen | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 5 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 36 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 25 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 5 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.42 for Qwen. The cheapest paid models are Qwen: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct at $0.04 and ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03.
It depends on the job: Qwen offers the broader line-up (71 models vs 2), Scaledown the lower typical price, Qwen the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Qwen: Qwen lists 71 models and Scaledown lists 2.
Qwen: Qwen's longest is Qwen: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B at 1.0M tokens; Scaledown's is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M.
Qwen: 5 free models (e.g. Qwen: Qwen3 4B (free)). Scaledown: none.
Qwen: 34 of 71 models accept images. Scaledown: 2 of 2.