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Model Pareto

Qwen-Image-2.1 vs Qwen-Image-3.0

In image generation, Qwen-Image-2.1 scores 50.6 and Qwen-Image-3.0 48.1 on the 0–100 quality scale. Qwen-Image-2.1 has no listed API price; Qwen-Image-3.0 costs $0.030 per image.
Qwen-Image-2.1Qwen-Image-3.0
Focus

Image generation: quality vs price

Compared models are ringed; the other 36 ranked here are greyed.

Lower price is better. Pareto frontier: Z-Image Turbo, Muse Image, MAI-Image-2.6-Flash, MAI-Image-2.6, GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst. 1 models are not plotted: Qwen-Image-2.1.

1 model with no price data — shown in the strip at the left edge

Qwen-Image-2.1

  • Best-value frontier (nothing is both cheaper and better)
  • Evidencestrong → weak
  • Estimated from other categories
  • Qwen-Image-2.1
    Quality
    50.6
    Rank
    #16/38
    Price
    —
    Speed
    —

    vs Qwen-Image-3.0: +2.5 quality · price n/a

  • Qwen-Image-3.0
    Quality
    48.1
    Rank
    #18/38
    Price
    $0.030/img
    Speed
    6.2s

    vs Qwen-Image-2.1: −2.5 quality · price n/a

Overview

Metric
Qwen-Image-2.1
Qwen-Image-3.0
Lab
Alibaba Qwen
Alibaba Qwen
Released
Sep 20, 2026
Jul 21, 2026
Weights
Open
Proprietary
Price per image
—
$0.030
Time per image
—
6.2s

Quality by category

0–100 within each category (100 = best tracked model). Rank is among all models ranked there. Click a row to focus it.

Metric
Qwen-Image-2.1
Qwen-Image-3.0
Image generation
50.6±4.3Best
#16/38Verified
48.1±4.3
#18/38Verified

Image generation benchmarks

Rank among models with a published score, and the leaderboard around each model. ~ italic = no published score, estimated from related benchmarks.

Metric
Qwen-Image-2.1
Qwen-Image-3.0
AA Text-to-Image Arena
third-party
~#17/36~1071Estimated
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1196
  2. #16Qwen-Image-3.01076
  3. ~#17Qwen-Image-2.1Estimated1071
  4. #17Grok Imagine Image (Quality)1044
estimated from related benchmarks
#16/351076Verified
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1196
  2. #15Seedream 5.0 Pro1078
  3. #16Qwen-Image-3.01076
  4. #17Grok Imagine Image (Quality)1044
artificialanalysis.ai · 2026-09-24
AA Image Editing Arena
third-party
#16/291071BestVerifiedFew votes
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1181
  2. #15Qwen-Image-3.0-Pro1078
  3. #16Qwen-Image-2.1Few votes1071
  4. #17Luma UNI 1 Max1069
artificialanalysis.ai · 2026-09-28
#20/291051Verified
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1181
  2. #19Seedream 5.0 Lite1057
  3. #20Qwen-Image-3.01051
  4. #21Nano Banana 2 Lite (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image)1043
artificialanalysis.ai · 2026-09-24
LMArena Text-to-Image
third-party
#14/301228VerifiedFew votes
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1423
  2. #13GPT Image 1.51239
  3. #14Qwen-Image-2.1Few votes1228
  4. #15Ideogram 4.0 (Quality)1204
arena.ai · 2026-09-21
~#14/31~1231Estimated
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1423
  2. #13GPT Image 1.51239
  3. ~#14Qwen-Image-3.0Estimated1231
  4. #14Qwen-Image-2.1Few votes1228
estimated from related benchmarks
LMArena Image Edit
third-party
#13/241367Verified
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1526
  2. #12GPT Image 1.51370
  3. #13Qwen-Image-2.11367
  4. #14Luma UNI 1 Max1334
arena.ai · 2026-09-21
~#14/25~1339Estimated
  1. #1GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1526
  2. #13Qwen-Image-2.11367
  3. ~#14Qwen-Image-3.0Estimated1339
  4. #14Luma UNI 1 Max1334
estimated from related benchmarks
GenEval
day 0
~#3/4~86.0%Estimated
  1. #1HiDream-O1-Image90.0%
  2. #2Qwen-Image87.0%
  3. ~#3Qwen-Image-2.1Estimated86.0%
  4. #3Z-Image Turbo82.0%
estimated from related benchmarks
~#3/4~86.0%Estimated
  1. #1HiDream-O1-Image90.0%
  2. #2Qwen-Image87.0%
  3. ~#3Qwen-Image-3.0Estimated86.0%
  4. #3Z-Image Turbo82.0%
estimated from related benchmarks
DPG-Bench
day 0
~#3/4~87.1%Estimated
  1. #1HiDream-O1-Image89.8%
  2. #2Qwen-Image88.3%
  3. ~#3Qwen-Image-2.1Estimated87.1%
  4. #3Z-Image Turbo84.9%
estimated from related benchmarks
~#3/4~87.2%Estimated
  1. #1HiDream-O1-Image89.8%
  2. #2Qwen-Image88.3%
  3. ~#3Qwen-Image-3.0Estimated87.2%
  4. #3Z-Image Turbo84.9%
estimated from related benchmarks