Model Comparison

Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini is 2.4x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?

Jamba 1.5 Mini (by AI21 Labs) 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.

Jamba 1.5 Mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 2.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Jamba 1.5 Mini if…

  • cost matters — it's about 2.4x cheaper per token

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Jamba 1.5 Mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Jamba 1.5 Mini costs less

For input processing, Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.20/1M tokens) is 1.5x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.40/1M tokens) is 3.7x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($1.49/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is more expensive than Jamba 1.5 Mini.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com
AI21 Labs
Jamba 1.5 Mini
Input tokens$0.20
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerAWS Bedrock
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.49
Best providerDeepinfra
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Model Size

Parameter count comparison

184.0B diff

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 184.0B more parameters than Jamba 1.5 Mini, making it 353.8% larger.

AI21 Labs
Jamba 1.5 Mini
52.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
236.0Bparameters
52.0B
Jamba 1.5 Mini
236.0B
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Jamba 1.5 Mini's 256,144 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Jamba 1.5 Mini is limited to 256,144 tokens.

AI21 Labs
Jamba 1.5 Mini
Input256,144 tokens
Output256,144 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Jamba 1.5 Mini does not.

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Jamba 1.5 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Jamba 1.5 Mini is licensed under Jamba Open Model 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.

Jamba 1.5 Mini

Jamba Open Model License

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Jamba 1.5 Mini was released on 2024-08-22, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 13 months newer than Jamba 1.5 Mini.

Jamba 1.5 Mini

Aug 22, 2024

1.9 years ago

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

10 months ago

1.1yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Jamba 1.5 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-03-05, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Jamba 1.5 Mini's training data extends to 2024-03-05, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date.

Jamba 1.5 Mini

Mar 2024

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Provider Availability

Jamba 1.5 Mini is available from Bedrock, Google. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.

Jamba 1.5 Mini

bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.49/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher MMLU score (88.8% vs 69.7%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (81.8% vs 42.5%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Jamba 1.5 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Jamba 1.5 Mini
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
AI21 Labs
Jamba 1.5 Mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Which is better, Jamba 1.5 Mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini is made by AI21 Labs and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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 Jamba 1.5 Mini compare to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct in benchmarks?

Jamba 1.5 Mini scores ARC-C: 85.7%, GSM8k: 75.8%, MMLU: 69.7%, TruthfulQA: 54.1%, Arena Hard: 46.1%. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 97.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.4%, MMLU-Redux: 92.2%, OCRBench: 92.0%, MMBench-V1.1: 89.9%.

Is Jamba 1.5 Mini cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Jamba 1.5 Mini is 1.5x cheaper for input tokens. Jamba 1.5 Mini costs $0.20/M input and $0.40/M output via bedrock. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30/M input and $1.49/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Jamba 1.5 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Jamba 1.5 Mini supports 256K tokens and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Jamba 1.5 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Key differences include context window (256K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.20 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Jamba Open Model License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Jamba 1.5 Mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Jamba 1.5 Mini is developed by AI21 Labs and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.