Model Comparison

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 1.2x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct — which is better?

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct (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 4B Instruct outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, MMBench-V1.1, MVBench, ODinW, ScreenSpot Pro), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 39 benchmarks (AI2D, BFCL-v3, BLINK, CC-OCR, CharadesSTA, CharXiv-D, CharXiv-R, DocVQAtest, ERQA, Hallusion Bench, HMMT25, IFEval, Include, InfoVQAtest, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, LVBench, MathVision, MathVista-Mini, MLVU-M, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, MM-MT-Bench, MMMU-Pro, MMMU (val), MMStar, MuirBench, OCRBench, OCRBench-V2 (en), OCRBench-V2 (zh), OSWorld, PolyMATH, RealWorldQA, ScreenSpot, SuperGPQA, VideoMMMU, WritingBench). Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is roughly 1.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window

Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 39 of 44 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 1.2x cheaper per token
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

44 benchmarks

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, MMBench-V1.1, MVBench, ODinW, ScreenSpot Pro), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 39 benchmarks (AI2D, BFCL-v3, BLINK, CC-OCR, CharadesSTA, CharXiv-D, CharXiv-R, DocVQAtest, ERQA, Hallusion Bench, HMMT25, IFEval, Include, InfoVQAtest, LiveBench 20241125, LiveCodeBench v6, LVBench, MathVision, MathVista-Mini, MLVU-M, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMLU-ProX, MMLU-Redux, MM-MT-Bench, MMMU-Pro, MMMU (val), MMStar, MuirBench, OCRBench, OCRBench-V2 (en), OCRBench-V2 (zh), OSWorld, PolyMATH, RealWorldQA, ScreenSpot, SuperGPQA, VideoMMMU, WritingBench).

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.08/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct ($0.60/1M tokens) is 1.2x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerDeepinfra
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.08
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerNovita
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.0B diff

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct has 5.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct, making it 125.0% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
4.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
9.0Bparameters
4.0B
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
9.0B
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct's 131,072 tokens. Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is limited to 32,768 tokens.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

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.

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

8 months ago

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

8 months ago

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

Provider Availability

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is available from DeepInfra. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra.

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.08/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M
deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.18/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.69/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher AIME 2025 score (46.6% vs 45.9%)
Higher MMBench-V1.1 score (85.1% vs 85.0%)
Higher MVBench score (68.9% vs 68.7%)
Higher ODinW score (48.2% vs 44.7%)
Higher ScreenSpot Pro score (59.5% vs 54.6%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher AI2D score (85.7% vs 84.1%)
Higher BFCL-v3 score (66.3% vs 63.3%)
Higher BLINK score (69.1% vs 65.8%)
Higher CC-OCR score (79.9% vs 76.2%)
Higher CharadesSTA score (56.0% vs 55.5%)
Higher CharXiv-D score (83.0% vs 76.2%)
Higher CharXiv-R score (46.4% vs 39.7%)
Higher DocVQAtest score (96.1% vs 95.3%)
Higher ERQA score (45.8% vs 41.3%)
Higher Hallusion Bench score (61.1% vs 57.6%)
Higher HMMT25 score (32.5% vs 30.7%)
Higher IFEval score (83.7% vs 82.3%)
Higher Include score (67.0% vs 61.4%)
Higher InfoVQAtest score (83.1% vs 80.3%)
Higher LiveBench 20241125 score (62.0% vs 60.9%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (39.3% vs 37.9%)
Higher LVBench score (58.0% vs 56.2%)
Higher MathVision score (53.9% vs 51.6%)
Higher MathVista-Mini score (77.2% vs 73.7%)
Higher MLVU-M score (78.1% vs 75.3%)
Higher MMLU score (80.7% vs 77.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (71.6% vs 67.1%)
Higher MMLU-ProX score (65.4% vs 59.4%)
Higher MMLU-Redux score (84.9% vs 81.5%)
Higher MM-MT-Bench score (7.7% vs 7.5%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (55.9% vs 53.2%)
Higher MMMU (val) score (69.6% vs 67.4%)
Higher MMStar score (70.9% vs 69.8%)
Higher MuirBench score (64.4% vs 63.8%)
Higher OCRBench score (89.6% vs 88.1%)
Higher OCRBench-V2 (en) score (65.4% vs 63.7%)
Higher OCRBench-V2 (zh) score (61.2% vs 57.6%)
Higher OSWorld score (33.9% vs 26.2%)
Higher PolyMATH score (30.4% vs 28.8%)
Higher RealWorldQA score (71.5% vs 70.9%)
Higher ScreenSpot score (94.4% vs 94.0%)
Higher SuperGPQA score (44.5% vs 40.3%)
Higher VideoMMMU score (65.3% vs 56.2%)
Higher WritingBench score (83.1% vs 82.5%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct or Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct 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 Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct compare to Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 95.3%, ScreenSpot: 94.0%, OCRBench: 88.1%, MMBench-V1.1: 85.1%, AI2D: 84.1%. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 96.1%, ScreenSpot: 94.4%, OCRBench: 89.6%, AI2D: 85.7%, MMBench-V1.1: 85.0%.

Is Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 1.3x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.60/M output via deepinfra. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct costs $0.08/M input and $0.50/M output via novita.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct supports 262K tokens and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct?

Key differences include context window (262K vs 131K), input pricing ($0.10 vs $0.08/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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