Gemini 3 Pro vs Qwen2.5-72B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Gemini 3 Pro specs · Qwen2.5-72B specs- PriceTie
Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.
- Context windowGemini 3 Pro
Gemini 3 Pro accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksGemini 3 Pro
Gemini 3 Pro leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 91.8 vs 86.0.
- ModalitiesGemini 3 Pro
Gemini 3 Pro supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 1 for Qwen2.5-72B.
- OpennessQwen2.5-72B
Qwen2.5-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Gemini 3 Pro is API-only.
On balance Gemini 3 Pro edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Qwen2.5-72B's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Gemini 3 Pro accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.
Gemini 3 Pro leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 91.8 vs 86.0. They differ in modality coverage, Gemini 3 Pro handles text, vision, audio, video while Qwen2.5-72B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Qwen2.5-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Gemini 3 Pro is API-only.
Gemini 3 Pro is the newer of the two, released 15 months after Qwen2.5-72B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemini 3 Pro is usually picked for long context and rag workloads, while Qwen2.5-72B sees more deployments in open source llm and commercial use llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemini 3 Pro | Qwen2.5-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba | |
| Released | Dec 2025 | Sep 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio, video | text |
| Context window | 1.0M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 65.5K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day, vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Gemini 3 ProPricing unavailable
- Qwen2.5-72BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU91.886.0
- HumanEval95.4
- GPQA91.9
Gemini 3 Pro fits when…
- Massive 1M-token context window
- State-of-the-art vision and document understanding
- Strong reasoning at competitive price
- Long-context tasks, handles 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Qwen2.5-72B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio, video.
Qwen2.5-72B fits when…
- Mature deployment
- Apache-2.0
- Strong multilingual
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Consider Gemini 3 Flash
Google's high-speed, low-cost mid-tier with the same massive context window, popular for high-volume RAG.
Frequently asked
Is Gemini 3 Pro or Qwen2.5-72B cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Gemini 3 Pro accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Qwen2.5-72B.Is Gemini 3 Pro or Qwen2.5-72B better for coding?
Both Gemini 3 Pro and Qwen2.5-72B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Qwen2.5-72B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). Gemini 3 Pro is API-only.When were Gemini 3 Pro and Qwen2.5-72B released?
Gemini 3 Pro was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Qwen2.5-72B was released by Alibaba on 2024-09-19.
The week's AI launches, in your inbox.
One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.