Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B (by DeepSeek) and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B if…
- you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct has 78.2B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 4394.4% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct specifies output context (65,536 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct was released on 2025-09-10.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is 8 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
Sep 10, 2025
9 months ago
7mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.