DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is 1.1x cheaper per token.
DeepSeek · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench). Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) also accepts a larger context window (262,100 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,100 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench).
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.12/1M tokens) is 1.3x cheaper than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.18/1M tokens) is 1.2x more expensive than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is more expensive than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B has 24.8B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512), making it 310.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) accepts 262,100 input tokens compared to DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B's 128,000 tokens. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can generate longer responses up to 262,100 tokens, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B does not.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is licensed under MIT, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) 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 32B was released on 2025-01-20, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 11 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.
Jan 20, 2025
1.6 years ago
Dec 4, 2025
8 months ago
10mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is available from DeepInfra. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is available from Mistral AI.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).
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