Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B (by DeepSeek) and Qwen3 235B A22B (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 14B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, LiveCodeBench). Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B if…
- you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, LiveCodeBench).
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 235B A22B has 220.2B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B, making it 1487.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 235B A22B specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Qwen3 235B A22B specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3 235B A22B 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 14B was released on 2025-01-20, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 3 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
3mo 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
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B vs Qwen3 235B A22B.