Model Comparison
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct (by Microsoft) 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.
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct 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.
Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct if…
- you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct 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.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 176.0B more parameters than Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct, making it 293.3% larger.
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).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct does not.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is licensed under MIT, 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.
MIT
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 13 months newer than Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct.
Aug 23, 2024
1.9 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
10 months ago
1.1yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
View detailsMicrosoft
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.