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Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3.5-9B

Qwen3.5-9B leads the LLM Stats Score 24.7 to 3.0.

Microsoft · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3.5-9B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 24.7 to 3.0, ranking #153 overall.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.05/M input and $0.10/M output

Choose Qwen3.5-9B

  • overall performance matters — it scores 24.7 and ranks #153 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Microsoft
Qwen3.5-9B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
3.0
#301
24.7
#153
Reasoning
0.1
#306
24.6
#147
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.05 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.10 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—

Individual benchmarks

15 reported for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct · 25 for Qwen3.5-9B

No common benchmarks found

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

3.4B diff

Qwen3.5-9B has 3.4B more parameters than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, making it 60.7% larger.

Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
5.6Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.5-9B
9.0Bparameters
5.6B
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
9.0B
Qwen3.5-9B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.5-9B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Sep 08 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9B support multimodal inputs.

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

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.5-9B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3.5-9B uses Apache 2.0.

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

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3.5-9B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01, while Qwen3.5-9B was released on 2026-03-02.

Qwen3.5-9B is 13 months newer than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Feb 1, 2025

1.6 years ago

Qwen3.5-9B

Mar 2, 2026

6 months ago

1.1yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Qwen3.5-9B'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 Qwen3.5-9B's cutoff date.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Jun 2024

Qwen3.5-9B

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.5-9B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3.5-9B.

Which is better, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct or Qwen3.5-9B?

Qwen3.5-9B leads the LLM Stats Score 24.7 to 3.0. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is made by Microsoft and Qwen3.5-9B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Phi-4-multimodal-instruct compare to Qwen3.5-9B in benchmarks?

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct scores ScienceQA Visual: 97.5%, DocVQA: 93.2%, MMBench: 86.7%, POPE: 85.6%, OCRBench: 84.4%. Qwen3.5-9B scores IFEval: 91.5%, MMLU-Redux: 91.1%, C-Eval: 88.2%, MAXIFE: 83.4%, Global PIQA: 83.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9B?

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports 128K tokens and Qwen3.5-9B 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 Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (3.0 vs 24.7), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Qwen3.5-9B?

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is developed by Microsoft and Qwen3.5-9B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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