Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 24.7. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 6.7x cheaper per token.
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3.8 Max leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 24.7, ranking #11 overall.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.8 Max wins 5; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is roughly 6.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 6.7x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
Choose Qwen3.8 Max
- overall performance matters — it scores 51.9 and ranks #11 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 5 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
50 reported for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct · 42 for Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 5 benchmarks (ERQA, LVBench, MMMU-Pro, RealWorldQA, ScreenSpot Pro).
Qwen3.8 Max 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 8.2x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($1.65/1M tokens).
For output processing, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.88/1M tokens) is 5.6x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($4.95/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3.8 Max is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 2164.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, making it 916.9% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3.8 Max's 256,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Qwen3.8 Max is limited to 256,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Qwen3.8 Max uses Qwen3.8-Max License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Qwen3.8-Max License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 10 months newer than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.
Sep 22, 2025
11 months ago
Aug 2, 2026
1 months ago
10mo 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita. Qwen3.8 Max is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Novita, Together.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Qwen3.8 Max
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max.