Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Grok-1.5Which is better in 2026?

Grok-1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Grok-1.5 — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B (by DeepSeek) and Grok-1.5 (by xAI) 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 Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-1.5 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Grok-1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok-1.5 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-1.5 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Grok-1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Grok-1.5 uses a proprietary license.

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

Grok-1.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Grok-1.5 was released on 2024-03-28.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is 10 months newer than Grok-1.5.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

9mo newer
Grok-1.5

Mar 28, 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→

Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Has open weights
xAI
Higher GPQA score (35.9% vs 33.8%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

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

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
✓ Preferred
Grok-1.5
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
xAI
Grok-1.5

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Grok-1.5.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B or Grok-1.5?

Grok-1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is made by DeepSeek and Grok-1.5 is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B compare to Grok-1.5 in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B scores MATH-500: 83.9%, AIME 2024: 52.7%, GPQA: 33.8%, LiveCodeBench: 16.9%. Grok-1.5 scores GSM8k: 90.0%, DocVQA: 85.6%, MMLU: 81.3%, HumanEval: 74.1%, MMMU: 53.6%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Grok-1.5?

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

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Grok-1.5?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is developed by DeepSeek and Grok-1.5 is developed by xAI.

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