Model Comparison
Phi 4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Phi 4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?
Phi 4 Mini (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 4 Mini 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 4 Mini 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 4 Mini 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 232.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 6045.8% 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 4 Mini 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 4 Mini
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Phi 4 Mini 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 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 8 months newer than Phi 4 Mini.
Feb 1, 2025
1.4 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
8 months ago
7mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4 Mini's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date.
Jun 2024
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Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Phi 4 Mini
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
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FAQ
Common questions about Phi 4 Mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.