Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Magistral MediumWhich is better in 2026?
DeepSeek R1 Zero shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Magistral Medium — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Zero (by DeepSeek) and Magistral Medium (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 Zero outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA), while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (LiveCodeBench). DeepSeek R1 Zero shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Zero if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
Choose Magistral Medium if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA), while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (LiveCodeBench).
DeepSeek R1 Zero shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek R1 Zero has 647.0B more parameters than Magistral Medium, making it 2695.8% larger.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Magistral Medium supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Zero does not.
Magistral Medium can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Magistral Medium
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Zero is licensed under MIT, while Magistral Medium 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 Zero was released on 2025-01-20, while Magistral Medium was released on 2025-06-10.
Magistral Medium is 5 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Zero.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
Jun 10, 2025
1.0 years ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Medium has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Magistral Medium's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2025
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
DeepSeek R1 Zero
View detailsDeepSeek
Magistral Medium
View detailsMistral AI
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Magistral Medium.