Model Comparison

Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 VL 32B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking — which is better?

Mistral Small 4 (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 VL 32B 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.

Mistral Small 4 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro, MMMU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 4 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2026

Choose Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Mistral Small 4 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro, MMMU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

86.0B diff

Mistral Small 4 has 86.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking, making it 260.6% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
119.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking
33.0Bparameters
119.0B
Mistral Small 4
33.0B
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small 4 specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Mistral Small 4 specifies output context (256,000 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking support multimodal inputs.

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

Mistral Small 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

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.

Mistral Small 4

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 4 was released on 2026-03-16, while Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.

Mistral Small 4 is 6 months newer than Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking.

Mistral Small 4

Mar 16, 2026

4 months ago

5mo newer
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

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
Larger context window (256,000 tokens)
Higher AIME 2025 score (83.8% vs 83.7%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher GPQA score (73.1% vs 71.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (82.1% vs 78.0%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (68.1% vs 60.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small 4
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking.

Which is better, Mistral Small 4 or Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Mistral Small 4 is made by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking 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 Mistral Small 4 compare to Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 4 scores AIME 2025: 83.8%, MMLU-Pro: 78.0%, AA-LCR: 71.2%, GPQA: 71.2%, LiveCodeBench: 63.6%. Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking scores DocVQAtest: 96.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.7%, MMLU-Redux: 91.9%, MMBench-V1.1: 90.8%, CharXiv-D: 90.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking?

Mistral Small 4 supports 256K tokens and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Who makes Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking?

Mistral Small 4 is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 32B Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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