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DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Gemma 2 9B

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B are closely matched at -2.7 and -4.8 on the LLM Stats Score.

DeepSeek · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -2.7 and -4.8.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025

Choose Gemma 2 9B

  • you are already invested in the Google ecosystem

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
DeepSeek
Gemma 2 9B
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-2.7
#325
-4.8
#336
Reasoning
-2.4
#315
-5.1
#329
Coding
-4.5
#245
-11.0
#251
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
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Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Gemma 2 9B
Math
5.7#260
-3.3#303
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B · 16 for Gemma 2 9B

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

7.5B diff

Gemma 2 9B has 7.5B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 419.1% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
1.8Bparameters
Google
Gemma 2 9B
9.2Bparameters
1.8B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
9.2B
Gemma 2 9B

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Gemma 2 9B uses Gemma.

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

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

MIT

Open weights

Gemma 2 9B

Gemma

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Gemma 2 9B was released on 2024-06-27.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is 7 months newer than Gemma 2 9B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Jan 20, 2025

1.6 years ago

6mo newer
Gemma 2 9B

Jun 27, 2024

2.2 years ago

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→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
✓ Preferred
Gemma 2 9B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Gemma 2 9B.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B or Gemma 2 9B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at -2.7 and -4.8. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is made by DeepSeek and Gemma 2 9B is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B compare to Gemma 2 9B in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B scores MATH-500: 83.9%, AIME 2024: 52.7%, GPQA: 33.8%, LiveCodeBench: 16.9%. Gemma 2 9B scores ARC-E: 88.0%, BoolQ: 84.2%, HellaSwag: 81.9%, PIQA: 81.7%, Winogrande: 80.6%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-2.7 vs -4.8), licensing (MIT vs Gemma). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 2 9B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is developed by DeepSeek and Gemma 2 9B is developed by Google.

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