Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 20.1 to 10.7. Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is 1.5x cheaper per token.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 20.1 to 10.7, ranking #197 overall.
In the 13 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct wins 13; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is roughly 1.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 20.1 and ranks #197 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 13 of 13 exact shared results
Choose Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 1.5x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
24 reported for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct · 45 for Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct outperforms in 13 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BFCL-v3, HMMT25, IFEval, Include, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, PolyMATH, SuperGPQA, WritingBench), while Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($0.09/1M tokens) is 1.1x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($1.10/1M tokens) is 1.8x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct has 76.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct, making it 1900.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 262,144 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 262,144 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct does not.
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct was released on 2025-09-10, while Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is 0 month newer than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.
Sep 10, 2025
1.0 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
12 months ago
1w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita. Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is available from DeepInfra.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct.