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DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen4-Max-Preview

Comparing DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

DeepSeek · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen4-Max-Preview

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
DeepSeek
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 0 for Qwen4-Max-Preview

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Previewdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Qwen4-Max-Preview uses a proprietary license.

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

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Qwen4-Max-Preview was released on 2026-11-11.

Qwen4-Max-Preview is 23 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.9 years ago

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Nov 11, 2026

1 days ago

1.9yr 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?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
✓ Preferred
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Qwen4-Max-Preview.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Qwen4-Max-Preview?

DeepSeek VL2 Small (DeepSeek) and Qwen4-Max-Preview (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 Qwen4-Max-Preview in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Key differences include licensing (deepseek vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Qwen4-Max-Preview is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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