# North Mini Code 1.0 vs Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct (slim)

> North Mini Code 1.0 scores 61 (C) to Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct's 52.6 (D) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
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North Mini Code 1.0 scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct's 52.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 4 scored categories. Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct leads on reach. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- North Mini Code 1.0: C 61, rank #80 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/north-mini-code-1-0.min.md
- Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct: D 52.6, rank #137 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen3-vl-4b-instruct.min.md
- North Mini Code 1.0, good for Developers who want a coding agent on their own GPU with a permissive licence Ahead on Risk, 60 against 55; Agent interface, 85 against 60; Documentation and upkeep, 36 against 31.
- Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct, good for An agent with 4 GB or more to spare that needs a local model to read images, documents and video Ahead on Reach, 95 against 85.

| Category | North Mini Code 1.0 | Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 85 | 95 |
| Risk (20%) | 60 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 60 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 36 | 31 |

| Fact (where they differ) | North Mini Code 1.0 | Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Cohere | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Last release | 2026-07-29 | 2025-11-01 |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.8/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Agent interface, North Mini Code 1.0 +25: North Mini Code 1.0 85 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (12,397 characters).); Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct 60 (A Jinja chat template in the repository (20).)
- Reach, Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct +10: North Mini Code 1.0 85 (Memory 25, the smallest build from Cohere is the w4a16 repository, 19.38 GB, and 19.38 GB × 1.2 = 23.3 GB, within 24 GB.); Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct 95 (Alibaba's own Q4_K_M GGUF with its vision file is 2.95 GB, so with a fifth added it needs about 3.5 GB and fits well within 16 GB (30).)
- Risk, North Mini Code 1.0 +5: North Mini Code 1.0 60 (File safety 25, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files and no Python in the repository.); Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct 55 (Safetensors and GGUF only and no code in the repositories, so the FP8 card's trust_remote_code flag runs nothing (25).)
- Documentation and upkeep, North Mini Code 1.0 +5: North Mini Code 1.0 36 (Model card 11, Intended use, the architecture, the parameters and the context are on the card.); Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct 31 (The card misses limitations, languages and a cut-off (11).)