Model Comparison

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 MaxWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max — which is better?

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3.8 Max (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.

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 3 benchmarks (LVBench, MMMU-Pro, ScreenSpot Pro). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen3.8 Max if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 3 benchmarks (LVBench, MMMU-Pro, ScreenSpot Pro).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 03 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2328.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2328.0B more parameters than Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct, making it 3233.3% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
72.0B
Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.

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

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct is licensed under tongyi-qianwen, while Qwen3.8 Max uses a proprietary license.

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

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct was released on 2025-01-26, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 18 months newer than Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct.

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct

Jan 26, 2025

1.5 years ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

1 days ago

1.5yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Has open weights
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.8 Max

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher LVBench score (81.8% vs 47.3%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (82.3% vs 51.1%)
Higher ScreenSpot Pro score (84.5% vs 43.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Qwen3.8 Max 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 Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct scores DocVQA: 96.4%, Android Control Low_EM: 93.7%, ChartQA: 89.5%, OCRBench: 88.5%, AI2D: 88.4%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 86.6%.

What are the main differences between Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include licensing (tongyi-qianwen vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.