We have studied the effect of optical bistability exhibited in the laser oscillation of Yb:LuVO4, Yb:YVO4, and Yb:GdVO4, the three Yb doped vanadate crystals. The bistability range can be in excess of 1 W in terms of the pump power absorbed by the crystal. At the high-power-end side of the bistability region, i.e., the upper threshold for laser oscillation, discontinuous growing in the output power takes place, along with large fluctuations in the laser intensity occurring on sub-millisecond time scale. It is found that the bistability effect is affected significantly by the output coupling of the resonator, the crystal thickness, and the thermal effect existing in the crystal.