Model Comparison
Grok-1.5 vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Grok-1.5 vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct — which is better?
Grok-1.5 (by xAI) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (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.
Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose Grok-1.5 if…
- you are already invested in the xAI ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- 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
Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
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
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Grok-1.5 does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Grok-1.5
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-1.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, 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.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Grok-1.5 was released on 2024-03-28, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 18 months newer than Grok-1.5.
Mar 28, 2024
2.2 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
8 months ago
1.5yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Grok-1.5 vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.