The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Grok-1.5 vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

xAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Grok-1.5

  • you are already invested in the xAI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

  • 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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Benchmark wins
0 of 3
3 of 3
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
Released
Mar 2024
Sep 2025
License
Proprietary
Apache 2.0

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Aug 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Grok-1.5 does not.

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-1.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-1.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Grok-1.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-1.5 was released on 2024-03-28, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is 18 months newer than Grok-1.5.

Grok-1.5

Mar 28, 2024

2.4 years ago

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

11 months ago

1.5yr 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?Start an Issue discussion

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-1.5 and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-1.5
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-1.5 vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-1.5 or Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-1.5 is made by xAI and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-1.5 compare to Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-1.5 scores GSM8k: 90.0%, DocVQA: 85.6%, MMLU: 81.3%, HumanEval: 74.1%, MMMU: 53.6%. Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 96.9%, ScreenSpot: 95.8%, CharXiv-D: 90.5%, MMLU-Redux: 89.8%, AI2D: 89.5%.

What are the main differences between Grok-1.5 and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-1.5 and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Grok-1.5 is developed by xAI and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.