Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Nova ProWhich is better in 2026?

Nova Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Nova Pro — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B (by DeepSeek) and Nova Pro (by Amazon) 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 Nova Pro is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Nova Pro 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 Nova Pro if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

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

Nova Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nova Pro specifies input context (300,000 tokens). Only Nova Pro specifies output context (300,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Amazon
Nova Pro
Input300,000 tokens
Output300,000 tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Nova Pro supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B does not.

Nova Pro can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nova Pro

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Nova Pro 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

Nova Pro

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Nova Pro was released on 2024-11-20.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is 2 months newer than Nova Pro.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

2mo newer
Nova Pro

Nov 20, 2024

1.5 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
Amazon
Larger context window (300,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (46.9% vs 33.8%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Amazon
Nova Pro

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Nova Pro.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B or Nova Pro?

Nova Pro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is made by DeepSeek and Nova Pro is made by Amazon. 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 Nova Pro in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B scores MATH-500: 83.9%, AIME 2024: 52.7%, GPQA: 33.8%, LiveCodeBench: 16.9%. Nova Pro scores ARC-C: 94.8%, GSM8k: 94.8%, DocVQA: 93.5%, IFEval: 92.1%, ChartQA: 89.2%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Nova Pro?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B supports an unknown number of tokens and Nova Pro supports 300K 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 Qwen 1.5B and Nova Pro?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Nova Pro?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is developed by DeepSeek and Nova Pro is developed by Amazon.

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