DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 16.5 to 1.4.
DeepSeek · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 16.5 to 1.4, ranking #211 overall.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins 5; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small
- you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 16.5 and ranks #211 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 5 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 50 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
DeepSeek VL2 Small outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 5 benchmarks (AI2D, MMBench-V1.1, MMStar, OCRBench, RealWorldQA).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has 15.0B more parameters than DeepSeek VL2 Small, making it 93.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifies output context (32,768 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
deepseek
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 9 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.
Dec 13, 2024
1.7 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
11 months ago
9mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.