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Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct vs Step-3.5-Flash

Step-3.5-Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 37.1 to 13.8. Step-3.5-Flash is 1.1x cheaper per token.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · StepFun · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Step-3.5-Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 37.1 to 13.8, ranking #74 overall.

In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Step-3.5-Flash wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Step-3.5-Flash is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 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 8B Instruct

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window

Choose Step-3.5-Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 37.1 and ranks #74 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
  • cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Step-3.5-Flash
StepFun
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
13.8
#246
37.1
#74
Reasoning
11.2
#263
37.2
#73
Agents
7.1
#143
15.3
#90
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 2
2 of 2
Input price
$0.08 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
131,072
65,536

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Step-3.5-Flash
Math
11.9#236
33.9#51
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

46 reported for Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct · 7 for Step-3.5-Flash

2 shared

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Step-3.5-Flash is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench v6).

Step-3.5-Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Step-3.5-Flash costs less

For input processing, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.08/1M tokens) is 1.3x cheaper than Step-3.5-Flash ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Step-3.5-Flash ($0.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is more expensive than Step-3.5-Flash.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.08
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerNovita
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerStepFun
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

187.0B diff

Step-3.5-Flash has 187.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct, making it 2077.8% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
9.0Bparameters
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
196.0Bparameters
9.0B
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
196.0B
Step-3.5-Flash

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Step-3.5-Flash's 65,536 tokens. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 32,768 tokens, while Step-3.5-Flash is limited to 8,192 tokens.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input65,536 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Step-3.5-Flash does not.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step-3.5-Flash

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 8B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Step-3.5-Flash

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22, while Step-3.5-Flash was released on 2026-02-02.

Step-3.5-Flash is 4 months newer than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

1.0 years ago

Step-3.5-Flash

Feb 2, 2026

7 months ago

4mo 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

Provider Availability

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra. Step-3.5-Flash is available from StepFun.

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

Step-3.5-Flash

stepfun logo
StepFun
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct and Step-3.5-Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Step-3.5-Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct vs Step-3.5-Flash.

Which is better, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct or Step-3.5-Flash?

Step-3.5-Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 37.1 to 13.8. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Step-3.5-Flash is made by StepFun. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct compare to Step-3.5-Flash in benchmarks?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 96.1%, ScreenSpot: 94.4%, OCRBench: 89.6%, AI2D: 85.7%, MMBench-V1.1: 85.0%. Step-3.5-Flash scores AIME 2025: 97.3%, Tau-bench: 88.2%, LiveCodeBench v6: 86.4%, IMO-AnswerBench: 85.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 74.4%.

Is Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct cheaper than Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 1.3x cheaper for input tokens. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct costs $0.08/M input and $0.50/M output via novita. Step-3.5-Flash costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output via stepfun.

What are the context window sizes for Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct and Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports 131K tokens and Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K 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 8B Instruct and Step-3.5-Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (13.8 vs 37.1), context window (131K vs 66K), input pricing ($0.08 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct and Step-3.5-Flash?

Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Step-3.5-Flash is developed by StepFun.

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