Choose LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B if…
- you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; Qwen: Qwen3 8B does not advertise it
- you want the newer model — released 2026-10-13, 18 months after the other
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B vs Qwen: Qwen3 8B
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B comes out ahead on the data we track: 2 advantages and none for Qwen: Qwen3 8B.
Key numbers
| Spec | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B | Qwen: Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Liquid | Qwen |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.05 | $0.12 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $0.70 | $0.46 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $0.21 | $0.20 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 68% | 69% |
| Context window | 128K tokens (~192 pages) | 131K tokens (~197 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 14% | 23% |
| Max output per response | 8K tokens (~6,100 words) | 8K tokens (~6,100 words) |
| Input types | text | text |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2026-10-13 | 2025-04-28 |
What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B | Qwen: Qwen3 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $17.75 | $17.88 | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B saves $0.13 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $13.00 | $18.59 | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B saves $5.59 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $14.40 | $19.50 | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B saves $5.10 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $8.20 | $12.09 | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B saves $3.89 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $3.20 | $6.30 | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B saves $3.10 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B | Qwen: Qwen3 8B | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | — | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | — | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | ✓ Yes | — | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-10-14.
- Qwen: Qwen3 8B: input price raised 57% ($0.05 → $0.12/1M), output price raised 12% ($0.40 → $0.46/1M) on 2026-08-06.
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-06 | Qwen: Qwen3 8B | $0.12 | $0.46 |
Which should you choose?
Choose Qwen: Qwen3 8B if…
No advantage on the data we track — pick it for provider preference or output quality on your own prompts.
Frequently asked questions
Is LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B better than Qwen: Qwen3 8B?
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B comes out ahead on the data we track: 2 advantages and none for Qwen: Qwen3 8B.
Which is cheaper, LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B or Qwen: Qwen3 8B?
Qwen: Qwen3 8B is cheaper: $0.20 vs $0.21 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 5% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $17.88 against $17.75.
How much do LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B and Qwen: Qwen3 8B cost per million tokens?
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B costs $0.05 per 1M input tokens and $0.70 per 1M output tokens; Qwen: Qwen3 8B costs $0.12 input and $0.46 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B or Qwen: Qwen3 8B?
Qwen: Qwen3 8B: 131K tokens, about 197 pages, against 128K (about 192 pages) for LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B.
Do LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B and Qwen: Qwen3 8B support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B: yes, Qwen: Qwen3 8B: yes. JSON-schema structured output — LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B: yes, Qwen: Qwen3 8B: yes.
Can LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B or Qwen: Qwen3 8B read images?
Neither accepts image input — both are text-in models.
Is LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B or Qwen: Qwen3 8B free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B and Qwen: Qwen3 8B?
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B can write up to 8K tokens (about 6,100 words) per response; Qwen: Qwen3 8B up to 8K (about 6,100 words).
When were LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B and Qwen: Qwen3 8B released?
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B was listed on 2026-10-13; Qwen: Qwen3 8B on 2025-04-28.
Has the price of LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B or Qwen: Qwen3 8B changed?
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-10-14. Qwen: Qwen3 8B: input price raised 57% ($0.05 → $0.12/1M), output price raised 12% ($0.40 → $0.46/1M) on 2026-08-06.
About the two models
LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B
LFM2.5-24B-A2B is a mixture-of-experts reasoning model from Liquid AI with 24B total and 2.45B active parameters. It always reasons before answering and is built for agents that call tools. Liquid...
Full LiquidAI: LFM2.5-24B-A2B specs →Qwen: Qwen3 8B
Qwen3-8B is a dense 8.2B parameter causal language model from the Qwen3 series, designed for both reasoning-heavy tasks and efficient dialogue. It supports seamless switching between "thinking" mode for math,...
Full Qwen: Qwen3 8B specs →