Qwen 2.5 VL 7BvsQwen 2 VL 7B
Complete comparison between Qwen 2.5 VL 7B (7B parameters, Alibaba) and Qwen 2 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 7B | Qwen 2 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| Settings | 7B | 7B |
| Family | Qwen | Qwen |
| Author | Alibaba | Alibaba |
| Origin | CN | CN |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Context | 128,000 tokens | 32 768 tokens |
| Output | January 2025 | October 2024 |
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 7B | Qwen 2 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M (lightweight) | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Q5_K_M (balanced) | 7 GB | 7 GB |
| Q8 (near-lossless) | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| FP16 (max quality) | 18 GB | 18 GB |
| CPU-only RAM | 10 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 7B | Qwen 2 VL 7B |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 4090 (24 GB) | 60 tok/s · FP16 | 60 tok/s · FP16 |
| RTX 4080 (16 GB) | 25 tok/s · Q8 | 25 tok/s · Q8 |
| RTX 3060 12GB (12 GB) | 8 tok/s · Q8 | 8 tok/s · Q8 |
| Apple M4 Pro (48 GB) (36 GB) | 25 tok/s · FP16 | 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.
Your private, free ChatGPT on your machine in 1 hour — LM Studio, Ollama, Open WebUI, your documents, no cloud.
- Lifetime online access
- PDF + files
- Refunded within 30 days
Strengths and weaknesses
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
Qwen 2 VL 7B
Top-tier vision. Excellent multilingual OCR.
- Dynamic resolution (20px to 16K)
- Excellent OCR and documents
- Apache 2.0
- Video supported
- 32k context only (text+image)
- Not as capable as Qwen3-VL
Installation
Frequently asked questions
Which model runs best on RTX 4090 (24 GB): Qwen 2.5 VL 7B or Qwen 2 VL 7B?
On an RTX 4090, Qwen 2.5 VL 7B runs at FP16 (~60 tok/s), Qwen 2 VL 7B in FP16 (~60 tok/s). In pure throughput, Qwen 2 VL 7B wins. See the configurator to test your exact GPU.
Which uses the least VRAM?
Both require the same VRAM in Q4 (6 GB). The choice then comes down to the license or perceived quality.
Can these models be used in commercial production?
Qwen 2.5 VL 7B is under Apache 2.0 — free for commercial use. Qwen 2 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 7B (7B). If you're 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.