Model Comparison
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is 24.2x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking — which is better?
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct (by Meta) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (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.
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AI2D), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (MMLU, MMMU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is roughly 24.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Llama 3.2 11B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 24.2x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 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
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AI2D), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (MMLU, MMMU-Pro).
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 9.0x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ($0.45/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 69.8x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ($3.49/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is more expensive than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has 225.4B more parameters than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct, making it 2126.4% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Llama 3.2 11B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Llama 3.2 11B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2 Community License, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.2 Community License
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is 12 months newer than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.
Sep 25, 2024
1.8 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
9 months ago
12mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Llama 3.2 11B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking's cutoff date.
Dec 2023
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Provider Availability
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Sambanova, Bedrock, Groq, Together, Fireworks. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.2 11B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking.