Phi-4-multimodal-instruct vs Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs Trinity Mini
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 72, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 72, Trinity Mini 65). The right pick depends on what you value most.
MicrosoftPhi-4-multimodal-instruct
72/100- ECI—
- Price$0.07 / $0.11
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)
72/100- ECI—
- Price$0.022 / $0.215
- Context262K
Arcee AITrinity Mini
65/100- ECI—
- Price$0.045 / $0.15
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 72/100, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 72/100, Trinity Mini 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) on price and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) $0.07 · Trinity Mini $0.071 · Phi-4-multimodal-instruct $0.08 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 262,144 · Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 131,072 · Trinity Mini 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsPhi-4-multimodal-instructPhi-4-multimodal-instruct: Text, Images, Audio · Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud): Text, Images · Trinity Mini: Text
- Self-hostingPhi-4-multimodal-instruct and Trinity MiniPublishes downloadable weights (MIT and OpenMDW-1.1)
| Measure | Weight | Phi-4-multimodal-instruct | Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) | Trinity Mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 98 | 100 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 50 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 37 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 72/100 | 72/100 | 65/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Phi-4-multimodal-instructMicrosoft | Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Alibaba (Qwen) | Trinity MiniArcee AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.07 | $0.022 (best) | $0.045 |
| Output | $0.11 (best) | $0.215 | $0.15 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.08 | $0.07 (best) | $0.071 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 1 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenMIT | Proprietary | OpenOpenMDW-1.1 |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Released | Feb 26, 2025 | Oct 15, 2025 | Dec 1, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 2024 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Phi-4-multimodal-instruct$0.92
- Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)$0.65
- Trinity Mini$0.75
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) or Trinity Mini?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 72/100, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 72/100, Trinity Mini 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) on price and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) or Trinity Mini?
Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.215 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Trinity Mini costs $0.045 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Phi-4-multimodal-instruct costs $0.07 input / $0.11 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.07 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) versus $0.071 for Trinity Mini (1× as much) and $0.08 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has not been scored yet, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has not been scored yet and Trinity Mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) and Trinity Mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and 131,072 for Trinity Mini. Maximum output per response: Phi-4-multimodal-instruct up to 131,072, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) up to 32,768, Trinity Mini up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct accepts text, images and audio; Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) accepts text and images; Trinity Mini accepts text. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and Trinity Mini publishes its weights (MIT and OpenMDW-1.1) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Trinity Mini is the newest, released Dec 1, 2025. Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) came out Oct 15, 2025; Phi-4-multimodal-instruct came out Feb 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Phi-4-multimodal-instruct Jun 2024.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
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