Model Comparison
Grok-4 Heavy vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Grok-4 Heavy significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Grok-4 Heavy vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?
Grok-4 Heavy (by xAI) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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-4 Heavy outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, HMMT25), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Grok-4 Heavy significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose Grok-4 Heavy if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Grok-4 Heavy outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, HMMT25), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
Grok-4 Heavy significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifies output context (262,144 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Grok-4 Heavy and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Grok-4 Heavy
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-4 Heavy is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22, while Grok-4 Heavy's release date is not specified.
We can confirm Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's release timeline, but cannot make a direct age comparison without Grok-4 Heavy's release date.
—
Sep 22, 2025
8 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Grok-4 Heavy has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-12-31, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Grok-4 Heavy's training data extends to 2024-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date.
Dec 2024
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Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Grok-4 Heavy vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.