Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Mistral Small 3 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 1.5x cheaper per token.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B (by DeepSeek) and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct (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 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 1.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.5x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.12/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.07/1M tokens).
For output processing, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.18/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.14/1M tokens).
In conclusion, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B has 8.8B more parameters than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct, making it 36.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,000 tokens. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is licensed under MIT, while Mistral Small 3 24B 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 32B was released on 2025-01-20, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 0 month newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
Jan 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
1w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B's cutoff date.
—
Oct 2023
Provider Availability
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is available from DeepInfra. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
View detailsMistral AI
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.