Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B (by DeepSeek) and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 Distill Llama 8B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B if…

  • you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem

Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

72.0B diff

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct has 72.0B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B, making it 896.3% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
8.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
80.0Bparameters
8.0B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
80.0B
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies output context (65,536 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Input65,536 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-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

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct was released on 2025-09-10.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is 8 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

Sep 10, 2025

9 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

DeepSeek

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (65,536 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (72.9% vs 49.0%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B or Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is made by DeepSeek and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. 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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B scores MATH-500: 89.1%, AIME 2024: 80.0%, GPQA: 49.0%, LiveCodeBench: 39.6%. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct scores MMLU-Redux: 90.9%, MultiPL-E: 87.8%, IFEval: 87.6%, WritingBench: 87.3%, Creative Writing v3: 85.3%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct supports 66K 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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is developed by DeepSeek and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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