Model Comparison
Devstral Small 1.1 vs Qwen3 VL 8B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Comparing Devstral Small 1.1 and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Verdict: Devstral Small 1.1 vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking — which is better?
Devstral Small 1.1 (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking (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.
On price, Devstral Small 1.1 is roughly 4.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Devstral Small 1.1 if…
- cost matters — it's about 4.4x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Devstral Small 1.1 and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinkingdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Devstral Small 1.1 ($0.10/1M tokens) is 1.8x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($0.18/1M tokens).
For output processing, Devstral Small 1.1 ($0.30/1M tokens) is 7.0x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($2.09/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is more expensive than Devstral Small 1.1.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Devstral Small 1.1 has 15.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking, making it 166.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Devstral Small 1.1's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Devstral Small 1.1 is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Devstral Small 1.1 does not.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Devstral Small 1.1
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Devstral Small 1.1 was released on 2025-07-11, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is 2 months newer than Devstral Small 1.1.
Jul 11, 2025
11 months ago
Sep 22, 2025
8 months ago
2mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Devstral Small 1.1 is available from Mistral AI. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is available from DeepInfra.
Devstral Small 1.1
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Devstral Small 1.1
View detailsMistral AI
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Devstral Small 1.1 vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.