Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Jamba 1.5 LargeWhich is better in 2026?
Jamba 1.5 Large significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Jamba 1.5 Large — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B (by DeepSeek) and Jamba 1.5 Large (by AI21 Labs) 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 Jamba 1.5 Large is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Jamba 1.5 Large significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Choose Jamba 1.5 Large if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Jamba 1.5 Large is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Jamba 1.5 Large significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Jamba 1.5 Large has 396.2B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 22259.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Jamba 1.5 Large specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Jamba 1.5 Large specifies output context (256,000 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Jamba 1.5 Large uses Jamba Open Model License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Jamba Open Model License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Jamba 1.5 Large was released on 2024-08-22.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is 5 months newer than Jamba 1.5 Large.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
5mo newerAug 22, 2024
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Jamba 1.5 Large has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-03-05, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Jamba 1.5 Large's training data extends to 2024-03-05, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date.
—
Mar 2024
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Jamba 1.5 Large
View detailsAI21 Labs
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Jamba 1.5 Large.