Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)Which is better in 2026?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B (by DeepSeek) and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) (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 7B 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.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B if…

  • you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B 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.

Tue Jun 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

380.0M diff

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) has 0.4B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B, making it 5.0% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
7.6Bparameters
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
8.0Bparameters
7.6B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
8.0B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies input context (262,100 tokens). Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies output context (262,100 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Input262,100 tokens
Output262,100 tokens
Tue Jun 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B 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 7B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B 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.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B

MIT

Open weights

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B 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 7B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

6 months ago

10mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

DeepSeek

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Mistral AI
Larger context window (262,100 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher AIME 2024 score (86.0% vs 83.3%)
Higher GPQA score (66.8% vs 49.1%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (61.6% vs 37.6%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B or Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B is made by DeepSeek and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) 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 7B compare to Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B scores MATH-500: 92.8%, AIME 2024: 83.3%, GPQA: 49.1%, LiveCodeBench: 37.6%. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) scores AIME 2024: 86.0%, AIME 2025: 78.7%, GPQA: 66.8%, LiveCodeBench: 61.6%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B supports an unknown number of tokens and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports 262K 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 7B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B is developed by DeepSeek and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is developed by Mistral AI.

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