Model Comparison
ERNIE 4.5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is 1.1x cheaper per token.
Verdict: ERNIE 4.5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking — which is better?
ERNIE 4.5 (by Baidu) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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.
ERNIE 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 4 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux, SimpleQA). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose ERNIE 4.5 if…
- you want predictable pricing at $0.40/M input and $4.00/M output
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
ERNIE 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 4 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-Redux, SimpleQA).
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, ERNIE 4.5 ($0.40/1M tokens) is 1.1x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ($0.45/1M tokens).
For output processing, ERNIE 4.5 ($4.00/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ($3.49/1M tokens).
In conclusion, ERNIE 4.5 is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has 215.0B more parameters than ERNIE 4.5, making it 1023.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to ERNIE 4.5's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while ERNIE 4.5 is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas ERNIE 4.5 does not.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
ERNIE 4.5
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
ERNIE 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
ERNIE 4.5 was released on 2025-06-25, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is 3 months newer than ERNIE 4.5.
Jun 25, 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
ERNIE 4.5 is available from Novita. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
ERNIE 4.5
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about ERNIE 4.5 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking.