# Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking — deprecation status

> Yes — Qwen deprecated Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking and shuts it down on October 10, 2026 (in 68 days). The recommended replacement is Qwen3.6 Flash.

The reasoning variant of the 8B vision model, shipped as a separate id rather than a parameter. Splitting thinking and non-thinking into two model strings is the convention every major lab abandoned during 2026, and Alibaba retiring both halves on one day is the end of it here.

## Facts

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Provider | Qwen |
| Model id | `qwen3-vl-8b-thinking` |
| Status | Deprecated |
| Shutdown | October 10, 2026 (in 68 days) |
| Last verified | August 3, 2026 |

## Replacement

- **Qwen3.6 Flash** (`qwen3.6-flash`) · recommended — https://modeldeprecations.dev/qwen/qwen3.6-flash
  - Parameters it accepts: https://modelparams.dev/models/qwen/qwen3.6-flash

```diff
- "model": "qwen3-vl-8b-thinking"
+ "model": "qwen3.6-flash"
```

## FAQ

### When will Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking shut down?

Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is scheduled to shut down on October 10, 2026, in 68 days.

### What replaces Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Qwen recommends Qwen3.6 Flash (`qwen3.6-flash`) as the replacement for Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.

### Is Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking still available?

Yes, for now. Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is deprecated but still answers requests until October 10, 2026. Deprecated models get no further updates and are the first to lose capacity.

### How do I migrate from Qwen Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking to qwen3.6-flash?

Swap the model id in your API call: replace "qwen3-vl-8b-thinking" with "qwen3.6-flash". Keep the rest of the request the same, then re-check the parameters the new model accepts before you ship.

## Sources

- [Alibaba Cloud Model Studio model decommissioning](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/model-depreciation) — accessed 2026-08-03

---

Canonical page: https://modeldeprecations.dev/qwen/qwen3-vl-8b-thinking
JSON: https://modeldeprecations.dev/api/v1/models/qwen/qwen3-vl-8b-thinking.json