Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed May 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

16.0B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has 16.0B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B, making it 198.9% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
8.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
8.0B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
24.0B
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies input context (32,000 tokens). Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies output context (32,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Wed May 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is licensed under MIT, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

MIT

Open weights

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B was released on 2025-01-20, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30.

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 0 month newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

Jan 20, 2025

1.3 years ago

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.3 years ago

1w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

—

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Higher GPQA score (49.0% vs 45.3%)
Mistral AI
Larger context window (32,000 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B or Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is made by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B compare to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B scores MATH-500: 89.1%, AIME 2024: 80.0%, GPQA: 49.0%, LiveCodeBench: 39.6%. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct scores Arena Hard: 87.6%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MT-Bench: 83.5%, IFEval: 82.9%, MATH: 70.6%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B supports an unknown number of tokens and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct supports 32K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is developed by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.