Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Magistral Small 2506

Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench).

Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Apr 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Cost data unavailable.

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Apr 22 2026 • llm-stats.com
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Input tokens$0.00
Output tokens$0.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
Mistral AI
Magistral Small 2506
Input tokens$0.00
Output tokens$0.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
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Model Size

Parameter count comparison

22.2B diff

Magistral Small 2506 has 22.2B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 1248.3% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
1.8Bparameters
Mistral AI
Magistral Small 2506
24.0Bparameters
1.8B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
24.0B
Magistral Small 2506

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Magistral Small 2506 uses Apache 2.0.

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

Magistral Small 2506

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Magistral Small 2506 was released on 2025-06-10.

Magistral Small 2506 is 5 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Jan 20, 2025

1.3 years ago

Magistral Small 2506

Jun 10, 2025

10 months ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Magistral Small 2506 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Magistral Small 2506's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Magistral Small 2506

Jun 2025

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Higher AIME 2024 score (70.7% vs 52.7%)
Higher GPQA score (68.2% vs 33.8%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (51.3% vs 16.9%)

Detailed Comparison

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Magistral Small 2506

Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is made by DeepSeek and Magistral Small 2506 is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B scores MATH-500: 83.9%, AIME 2024: 52.7%, GPQA: 33.8%, LiveCodeBench: 16.9%. Magistral Small 2506 scores AIME 2024: 70.7%, GPQA: 68.2%, AIME 2025: 62.8%, LiveCodeBench: 51.3%.
Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is developed by DeepSeek and Magistral Small 2506 is developed by Mistral AI.