Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Magistral Small 2506Which is better in 2026?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Magistral Small 2506 — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B (by DeepSeek) and Magistral Small 2506 (by Mistral AI) 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 32B outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, LiveCodeBench), while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks

Choose Magistral Small 2506 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, LiveCodeBench), while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Thu Jun 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

8.8B diff

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B has 8.8B more parameters than Magistral Small 2506, making it 36.7% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
32.8Bparameters
Mistral AI
Magistral Small 2506
24.0Bparameters
32.8B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
24.0B
Magistral Small 2506

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Magistral Small 2506
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Thu Jun 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B 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 32B

MIT

Open weights

Magistral Small 2506

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B 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 32B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

Magistral Small 2506

Jun 10, 2025

1.0 years 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 32B'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 32B's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

—

Magistral Small 2506

Jun 2025

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher AIME 2024 score (83.3% vs 70.7%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (57.2% vs 51.3%)
Mistral AI
Higher GPQA score (68.2% vs 62.1%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Mistral AI
Magistral Small 2506

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Magistral Small 2506.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B or Magistral Small 2506?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B 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.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B compare to Magistral Small 2506 in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B scores MATH-500: 94.3%, AIME 2024: 83.3%, GPQA: 62.1%, LiveCodeBench: 57.2%. Magistral Small 2506 scores AIME 2024: 70.7%, GPQA: 68.2%, AIME 2025: 62.8%, LiveCodeBench: 51.3%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B and Magistral Small 2506?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B supports 128K tokens and Magistral Small 2506 supports an unknown number of 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 32B and Magistral Small 2506?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B and Magistral Small 2506?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is developed by DeepSeek and Magistral Small 2506 is developed by Mistral AI.

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