Model Comparison

DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507Which is better in 2026?

Comparing DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 — which is better?

DeepSeek VL2 Small (by DeepSeek) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small if…

  • you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem

Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

219.0B diff

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 has 219.0B more parameters than DeepSeek VL2 Small, making it 1368.8% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
16.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
235.0Bparameters
16.0B
DeepSeek VL2 Small
235.0B
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Input262,144 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

DeepSeek VL2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 does not.

DeepSeek VL2 Small can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 was released on 2025-07-22.

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is 7 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.5 years ago

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Jul 22, 2025

11 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Supports multimodal inputs
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

DeepSeek VL2 Small (DeepSeek) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does DeepSeek VL2 Small compare to Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 scores ZebraLogic: 95.0%, MMLU-Redux: 93.1%, IFEval: 88.7%, MultiPL-E: 87.9%, Creative Writing v3: 87.5%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

DeepSeek VL2 Small supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (deepseek vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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