Qwen 2.5 VL 72BvsQwen 2.5 VL 7B
Complete comparison between Qwen 2.5 VL 72B (72B parameters, Alibaba) and Qwen 2.5 VL 7B (7B, Alibaba). VRAM required by quantization, tokens per second measured on 4 reference GPUs, verdict by use case, license, installation commands. All figures are calculated from catalog data—no copy-pasting between pages.
In brief
| Feature | Qwen 2.5 VL 72B | Qwen 2.5 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| Settings | 72B | 7B |
| Family | Qwen | Qwen |
| Author | Alibaba | Alibaba |
| Origin | CN | CN |
| License | Qwen License | Apache 2.0 |
| Context | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Output | January 2025 | January 2025 |
Memory footprint
Approximate VRAM required for inference with an average context window. The winner (in green) is the model that uses less — smaller models have the edge.
| Quantization | Qwen 2.5 VL 72B | Qwen 2.5 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M (lightweight) | 42 GB | 6 GB |
| Q5_K_M (balanced) | 50 GB | 7 GB |
| Q8 (near-lossless) | 78 GB | 10 GB |
| FP16 (max quality) | 144 GB | 18 GB |
| CPU-only RAM | 64 GB | 10 GB |
Estimated speed (tokens/second)
Estimates based on the best quantization that can fit on each GPU. Actual figures depend on the prompt, context, and engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, MLX). Methodology.
| Reference GPU | Qwen 2.5 VL 72B | Qwen 2.5 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 4090 (24 GB) | ✗ too heavy | 60 tok/s · FP16 |
| RTX 4080 (16 GB) | ✗ too heavy | 25 tok/s · Q8 |
| RTX 3060 12GB (12 GB) | ✗ too heavy | 8 tok/s · Q8 |
| Apple M4 Pro (48 GB) (36 GB) | ✗ too heavy | 25 tok/s · FP16 |
Verdict by use case
For each common use case, we indicate which of the two is better suited based on its tags, size, and specialization.
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Strengths and weaknesses
Qwen 2.5 VL 72B
Frontier vision. MMMU 70.2, MMBench 88.6. Qwen license (non-Apache), commercial use under 100M MAU.
- Frontier vision
- MMMU 70.2
- 128k ctx
- Qwen license (non-Apache): MAU clause
- 40+ GB of VRAM in Q4
Installation
Qwen 2.5 VL 7B
State-of-the-art 7B vision. Video >1h, bbox grounding, multilingual OCR. DocVQA 95.7.
- SOTA vision at 7B
- Excellent multilingual OCR
- Long video
- Apache 2.0
- Requires a VLM-compatible Ollama backend ≥ 0.5
Installation
Frequently asked questions
Which model runs best on RTX 4090 (24 GB): Qwen 2.5 VL 72B or Qwen 2.5 VL 7B?
On a RTX 4090, Qwen 2.5 VL 72B does not fit in 24 GB—you need to offload part of it to the CPU, Qwen 2.5 VL 7B in FP16 (~60 tok/s). See the configurator to test your exact GPU.
Which uses the least VRAM?
In Q4_K_M, Qwen 2.5 VL 7B fits in 6 GB versus 42 GB for its rival—a 36 GB gap, significant if you’re targeting an RTX 3060 or an 8 GB 4060 Ti.
Can these models be used in commercial production?
Qwen 2.5 VL 72B is under the Qwen License—check the restrictions, especially the monthly user thresholds. Qwen 2.5 VL 7B is under Apache 2.0 — also free to use. For SaaS, prefer Apache 2.0 or MIT.
Which one should you choose in 2026?
Depends on your primary constraint. Smaller / faster: Qwen 2.5 VL 7B (7B). More capable: Qwen 2.5 VL 72B (72B). If you are unsure, launch the configurator with your GPU and use case — it will decide based on both.
Alternatives to consider
If neither works for you, here are some neighboring models you could explore.