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Grok-1.5V vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 13.8 to -0.8.

xAI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 13.8 to -0.8, ranking #246 overall.

The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

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

Choose Grok-1.5V

  • you are already invested in the xAI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

  • overall performance matters — it scores 13.8 and ranks #246 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • 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.

Grok-1.5V
xAI
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-0.8
#338
13.8
#246
Reasoning
-0.1
#325
11.2
#263
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 2
1 of 2
Input price
— / M
$0.08 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.50 / M
Context window
—
131,072

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Grok-1.5V
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Vision
-1.7#192
9.8#128
Multimodal
0.7#156
11.3#116
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

7 reported for Grok-1.5V · 46 for Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

2 shared

Grok-1.5V outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AI2D), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (RealWorldQA).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

xAI
Grok-1.5V
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Grok-1.5V and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Grok-1.5V

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-1.5V is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Grok-1.5V

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-1.5V was released on 2024-04-12, while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 18 months newer than Grok-1.5V.

Grok-1.5V

Apr 12, 2024

2.4 years ago

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

1.0 years ago

1.4yr 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-1.5V and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-1.5V
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-1.5V vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-1.5V or Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 13.8 to -0.8. Grok-1.5V is made by xAI and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Grok-1.5V compare to Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-1.5V scores AI2D: 88.3%, DocVQA: 85.6%, TextVQA: 78.1%, ChartQA: 76.1%, RealWorldQA: 68.7%. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 96.1%, ScreenSpot: 94.4%, OCRBench: 89.6%, AI2D: 85.7%, MMBench-V1.1: 85.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-1.5V and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Grok-1.5V supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-1.5V and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-0.8 vs 13.8), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-1.5V and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Grok-1.5V is developed by xAI and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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