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Model Comparison

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

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

Verdict: Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) (by Mistral AI) 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.

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MM-MT-Bench). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MM-MT-Bench).

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

Fri Aug 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

228.0B diff

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 228.0B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512), making it 2850.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)
8.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
236.0Bparameters
8.0B
Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)
236.0B
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

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).

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Fri Aug 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) was released on 2025-12-04, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) is 2 months newer than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

8 months ago

2mo newer
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

10 months ago

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→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher MM-MT-Bench score (8.5% vs 8.1%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Which is better, Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) is made by Mistral AI 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 Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) compare to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct in benchmarks?

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) scores MATH: 87.6%, Wild Bench: 66.8%, Arena Hard: 50.9%, MM-MT-Bench: 8.1%. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 97.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.4%, MMLU-Redux: 92.2%, OCRBench: 92.0%, MMBench-V1.1: 89.9%.

What are the context window sizes for Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) supports an unknown number of 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.

Who makes Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Ministral 3 (8B Instruct 2512) is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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