Model Comparison

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue May 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.2B diff

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking has 5.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini Reasoning, making it 136.8% larger.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

3.8Bparameters

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

9.0Bparameters

3.8B

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

9.0B

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Input- tokens

Output- tokens

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Input262,144 tokens

Output262,144 tokens

Tue May 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini Reasoning does not.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Text

Images

Audio

Video

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Text

Images

Audio

Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.

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

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning was released on 2025-04-30, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is 5 months newer than Phi 4 Mini Reasoning.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Apr 30, 2025

1.1 years ago

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Sep 22, 2025

7 months ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-02-01, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini Reasoning's training data extends to 2025-02-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Feb 2025

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

View details

Microsoft

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

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)

Supports multimodal inputs

Higher GPQA score (69.9% vs 52.0%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature	Phi 4 Mini Reasoning	Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

FAQ

Common questions about Phi 4 Mini Reasoning vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.

Which is better, Phi 4 Mini Reasoning or Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is made by Microsoft and Qwen3 VL 8B 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 Phi 4 Mini Reasoning compare to Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking in benchmarks?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning scores MATH-500: 94.6%, AIME: 57.5%, GPQA: 52.0%. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking scores DocVQAtest: 95.3%, ScreenSpot: 93.6%, MMLU-Redux: 88.8%, MMBench-V1.1: 87.5%, InfoVQAtest: 86.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Phi 4 Mini Reasoning and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Phi 4 Mini Reasoning and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Phi 4 Mini Reasoning and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is developed by Microsoft and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.