Model Comparison
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is 6.4x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking — which is better?
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (by Microsoft) and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B 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.
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (OCRBench), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 4 benchmarks (AI2D, BLINK, MMMU-Pro, Video-MME). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is roughly 6.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Phi-4-multimodal-instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 6.4x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 5 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (OCRBench), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is better at 4 benchmarks (AI2D, BLINK, MMMU-Pro, Video-MME).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens) is 9.9x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking ($0.99/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is more expensive than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking has 25.4B more parameters than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, making it 453.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's 128,000 tokens. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking 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-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is 8 months newer than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.
Feb 1, 2025
1.5 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
9 months ago
7mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking's cutoff date.
Jun 2024
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Provider Availability
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is available from DeepInfra. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking.