Model Comparison
DeepSeek-R1-0528 vs Magistral Small 2506Which is better in 2026?
DeepSeek-R1-0528 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek-R1-0528 vs Magistral Small 2506 — which is better?
DeepSeek-R1-0528 (by DeepSeek) and Magistral Small 2506 (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
DeepSeek-R1-0528 outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 0 benchmarks. DeepSeek-R1-0528 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek-R1-0528 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
Choose Magistral Small 2506 if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek-R1-0528 outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 0 benchmarks.
DeepSeek-R1-0528 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek-R1-0528 has 647.0B more parameters than Magistral Small 2506, making it 2695.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only DeepSeek-R1-0528 specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only DeepSeek-R1-0528 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek-R1-0528 is licensed under MIT, while Magistral Small 2506 uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek-R1-0528 was released on 2025-05-28, while Magistral Small 2506 was released on 2025-06-10.
Magistral Small 2506 is 0 month newer than DeepSeek-R1-0528.
May 28, 2025
1.1 years ago
Jun 10, 2025
1.0 years ago
1w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Small 2506 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while DeepSeek-R1-0528's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Magistral Small 2506's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek-R1-0528's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2025
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
DeepSeek-R1-0528
View detailsDeepSeek
Magistral Small 2506
View detailsMistral AI
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek-R1-0528 vs Magistral Small 2506.