Model Comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 4B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is 1.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking — which is better?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3 VL 4B 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.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct outperforms in 40 benchmarks (AI2D, AIME 2025, Arena-Hard v2, BFCL-v3, BLINK, CC-OCR, CharadesSTA, CharXiv-R, Creative Writing v3, DocVQAtest, ERQA, HMMT25, IFEval, Include, InfoVQAtest, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, LVBench, MathVision, MathVista-Mini, MMBench-V1.1, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, MM-MT-Bench, MMMU-Pro, MMStar, Multi-IF, OCRBench, OCRBench-V2 (en), OCRBench-V2 (zh), ODinW, OSWorld, RealWorldQA, ScreenSpot, ScreenSpot Pro, SuperGPQA, VideoMMMU, WritingBench), while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (Hallusion Bench, MuirBench). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is roughly 1.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 40 of 42 shared benchmarks
Choose Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.8x cheaper per token
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct outperforms in 40 benchmarks (AI2D, AIME 2025, Arena-Hard v2, BFCL-v3, BLINK, CC-OCR, CharadesSTA, CharXiv-R, Creative Writing v3, DocVQAtest, ERQA, HMMT25, IFEval, Include, InfoVQAtest, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, LVBench, MathVision, MathVista-Mini, MMBench-V1.1, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, MM-MT-Bench, MMMU-Pro, MMStar, Multi-IF, OCRBench, OCRBench-V2 (en), OCRBench-V2 (zh), ODinW, OSWorld, RealWorldQA, ScreenSpot, ScreenSpot Pro, SuperGPQA, VideoMMMU, WritingBench), while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is better at 2 benchmarks (Hallusion Bench, MuirBench).
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($1.49/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking ($1.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 232.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking, making it 5800.0% 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
Supported data types and modalities
Both Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking
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
Both models were released on 2025-09-22.
They likely represent similar generations of model development.
Sep 22, 2025
10 months ago
Sep 22, 2025
10 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita. Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is available from DeepInfra.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking.