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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Qwen3.5-9B (Qwen) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#51 vs #83); and Qwen3.5-9B is 12.7× cheaper per output token ($0.15/1M vs $1.90/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3.5-9B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.15/1M output tokens against $1.90/1M, about 12.7× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.10/1M against $0.21/1M.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 21.8 against 14.4.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.5-9B was listed 10 March 2026, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 23 September 2025.

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #51 against #83 (47.3 vs 28.6 points).

Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
FieldQwen3.5-9BQwenQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen
ModelCap Index position#83#51
Index score28.647.3
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.10$0.21
Output price / 1M tokens$0.15$1.90
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens262K33K
API providers listed55
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, VideoText, Image
First listed10 March 202623 September 2025
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Public benchmark boards where Qwen3.5-9B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has a published result
BoardQwen3.5-9BQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14651452–1477Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis21.8intelligence-index14.4intelligence-indexQwen3.5-9B

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: common questions

Is Qwen3.5-9B better than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #51 against #83. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Qwen3.5-9B cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.15/1M against $1.90/1M. Input tokens are $0.10/1M for Qwen3.5-9B and $0.21/1M for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.5-9B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Both publish a 262K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Qwen3.5-9B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct open-weight models?

Qwen3.5-9B: Open weights. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Qwen3.5-9B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Qwen3.5-9B and 5 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen3.5-9B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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