Model Comparison

Grok-3 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Grok-3 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct — which is better?

Grok-3 Mini (by xAI) and Qwen3 VL 32B 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-3 Mini outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Grok-3 Mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks

Choose Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-3 Mini specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-3 Mini specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 Mini 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-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is 7 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

8 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct's cutoff date.

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

xAI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher AIME 2025 score (90.8% vs 66.2%)
Higher GPQA score (84.0% vs 68.9%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Has open weights
xAIGrok-3 Mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen TeamQwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-3 Mini 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-3 Mini compare to Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. 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 context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini supports 128K tokens and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 Mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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