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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. Qwen3 235B vs Yi-Lightning

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

Qwen3 235B vs Yi-Lightning benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Yi-Lightning delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,475 vs 1,440), while Yi-Lightning leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (63.4%), while Yi-Lightning is more budget-friendly at $0.14/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Yi-Lightning holds the advantage over Qwen3 235B in overall benchmark performance and human evaluation rankings. Choose Yi-Lightning for demanding workloads, or review the breakdown below to compare coding and pricing metrics.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

Qwen3 235B (1)Yi-Lightning (8)
Qwen3 235B
1 of 9 Wins
✓Context window
Yi-Lightning
8 of 9 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price
Alibaba
Leads 1 of 9 metrics
Qwen3 235B

Open-weight Qwen3 mixture-of-experts.

235B MoEElo 1,440$0.88/1M out
01.AI
Leads 8 of 9 metrics
Yi-Lightning

01.AI ultra-fast reasoning model delivering top LiveBench efficiency.

LightningElo 1,475$0.14/1M out

Qwen 3 Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

4 models

Currently comparing Qwen3 235B vs Yi-Lightning. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: Qwen3 235B
Qwen 3 Max$4.8Qwen QwQ 32B$1.2Qwen3.8 27B$0.4
Top Rival Showdowns for Qwen3 235B
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Preference LeaderYi-Lightning Wins

Yi-Lightning

Δ 35 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderYi-Lightning Wins

Yi-Lightning

130 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderYi-Lightning Wins

Yi-Lightning

$0.14 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Qwen3 235B (1)vsYi-Lightning (9)
Qwen3 235B: 1W (10%)Overall: Yi-LightningYi-Lightning: 9W (90%)
← Qwen3 235BYi-Lightning →
🏆Yi-Lightning(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark
Qwen3 235BvsYi-Lightning
Preference Elo
1,440vs1,475+35
Coding Elo
—vs1,480
SWE-bench
59.4%vs63.4%+4%
LiveBench
63.5%vs65%+1.5%
GPQA Diamond
76.8%vs78%+1.2%
Qwen3 235B: 0WYi-Lightning: 5W
🏆Yi-Lightning(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
Qwen3 235BvsYi-Lightning
Output speed
74 tok/svs130 tok/s+56 tok/s
Time to first token
320 msvs150 ms+170 ms
Qwen3 235B: 0WYi-Lightning: 2W
🏆Yi-Lightning(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
Qwen3 235BvsYi-Lightning
Output price
$0.88/1Mvs$0.14/1M+$0.74/1M
Input price
$0.22/1Mvs$0.14/1M+$0.08/1M
Context window
131kvs16k+115k
Qwen3 235B: 1WYi-Lightning: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+35
Qwen3 235B1,440
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning1,475
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Coding Elo
Qwen3 235B—
Yi-Lightning1,480
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
LiveBench+1.5%
Qwen3 235B63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning65%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
SWE-bench+4%
Qwen3 235B59.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning63.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPQA Diamond+1.2%
Qwen3 235B76.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning78%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+170 ms
Qwen3 235B320 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning150 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+56 tok/s
Qwen3 235B74 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning130 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$0.08/1M
Qwen3 235B$0.22/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning$0.14/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output price+$0.74/1M
Qwen3 235B$0.88/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning$0.14/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Context window+115k
Qwen3 235B131k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Yi-Lightning16k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
BenchmarkQwen3 235BYi-LightningAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,440
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,475
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+35
Coding Elo—
1,480
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
—
LiveBench
63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
65%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+1.5%
SWE-bench
59.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
63.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+4%
GPQA Diamond
76.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
78%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+1.2%
Time to first token
320 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
150 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+170 ms
Output speed
74 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
130 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+56 tok/s
Input price
$0.22/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.14/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.08/1M
Output price
$0.88/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.14/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.74/1M
Context window
131k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
16k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+115k
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 67% with Yi-Lightning
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
Qwen3 235B$20.90 / mo
In: $7.7Out: $13.2
Yi-Lightning$7.00 / mo
In: $4.9Out: $2.1
Estimated Cost Delta

Yi-Lightning is estimated to save $13.90/month ($167/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Yi-Lightning:Pick Yi-Lightning when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    Yi-Lightning:Pick Yi-Lightning when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.
  • 3
    Yi-Lightning:Pick Yi-Lightning as the default general assistant.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsYi-Lightning

Higher SWE-bench (63.4%).

High-volume chatYi-Lightning

Lower output list price ($0.14/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIYi-Lightning

Lower TTFT (150 ms).

Long-document RAGQwen3 235B

Larger window (131k).

Screenshots / visionYi-Lightning

Yi-Lightning is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsYi-LightningHigher SWE-bench (63.4%).
High-volume chatYi-LightningLower output list price ($0.14/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIYi-LightningLower TTFT (150 ms).
Long-document RAGQwen3 235BLarger window (131k).
Screenshots / visionYi-LightningYi-Lightning is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchSep 20, 2025

Qwen3 235B: the open MoE Qwen, not the Max SKU

Sep 2025 open-weight mixture-of-experts. Self-host path. Don’t confuse it with Qwen 3 Max.

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
Alibaba

Qwen3 235B

Elo 1,440
SWE-bench59.4%
Speed (tok/s)74 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.22/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.88/1M
01.AI

Yi-Lightning

Elo 1,475
SWE-bench63.4%
Speed (tok/s)130 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.14/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.14/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Qwen3 235B or Yi-Lightning?
Yi-Lightning has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,475). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Qwen3 235B or Yi-Lightning?
Yi-Lightning leads SWE-bench at 63.4% vs 59.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Yi-Lightning output tokens are $0.14/1M versus $0.88/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Qwen3 235B or Yi-Lightning?
Yi-Lightning has the lower time-to-first-token (150 ms vs 320 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
Qwen3 235B accepts 131k tokens versus 16k.
Can I self-host either model?
Qwen3 235B is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Qwen3 235B and Yi-Lightning Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Sep 20, 2025

    Qwen3 235B: the open MoE Qwen, not the Max SKU

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Qwen3 235B matchups →|All Yi-Lightning matchups →
Qwen3 235B vs Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (previous qwen)Qwen3 235B vs Qwen QwQ 32B (next qwen)Yi-Lightning vs Yi-Large (previous other)Yi-Lightning vs Ernie 4.5 Turbo (next other)Qwen QwQ 32B vs Yi-LightningQwen 3 Max vs Yi-Lightning