Model Comparison

o4-mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: o4-mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct — which is better?

o4-mini (by OpenAI) and Qwen3 VL 32B 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.

o4-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, CharXiv-R, GPQA), while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose o4-mini if…

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

Choose Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

o4-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, CharXiv-R, GPQA), while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only o4-mini specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only o4-mini specifies output context (100,000 tokens).

OpenAI
o4-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both o4-mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

o4-mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

o4-mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

o4-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

o4-mini was released on 2025-04-16, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is 5 months newer than o4-mini.

o4-mini

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

10 months ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o4-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm o4-mini's training data extends to 2024-05-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct's cutoff date.

o4-mini

May 2024

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

OpenAI
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Higher AIME 2025 score (92.7% vs 66.2%)
Higher CharXiv-R score (72.0% vs 62.8%)
Higher GPQA score (81.4% vs 68.9%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Has open weights
OpenAIo4-mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen TeamQwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against o4-mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

o4-mini
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
o4-mini
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about o4-mini vs Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct.

Which is better, o4-mini or Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o4-mini is made by OpenAI and Qwen3 VL 32B 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 o4-mini compare to Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct in benchmarks?

o4-mini scores AIME 2024: 93.4%, AIME 2025: 92.7%, MathVista: 84.3%, MMMU: 81.6%, GPQA: 81.4%. Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 96.9%, ScreenSpot: 95.8%, CharXiv-D: 90.5%, MMLU-Redux: 89.8%, AI2D: 89.5%.

What are the context window sizes for o4-mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

o4-mini supports 200K tokens and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between o4-mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes o4-mini and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct?

o4-mini is developed by OpenAI and Qwen3 VL 32B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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