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DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

DeepSeek R1 Zero leads the LLM Stats Score 16.0 to 4.2.

DeepSeek · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Zero leads the overall LLM Stats Score 16.0 to 4.2, ranking #234 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek R1 Zero wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Zero

  • overall performance matters — it scores 16.0 and ranks #234 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek R1 Zero
DeepSeek
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
16.0
#234
4.2
#310
Reasoning
16.3
#224
3.7
#306
Coding
4.3
#217
4.7
#213
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.08 / M
Context window
—
32,768

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Math
17.5#196
6.9#269
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Zero · 8 for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

1 shared

DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek R1 Zero significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

647.0B diff

DeepSeek R1 Zero has 647.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct, making it 2695.8% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
671.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
671.0B
DeepSeek R1 Zero
24.0B
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Fri Oct 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Zero 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.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

MIT

Open weights

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Zero 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 Zero.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Jan 20, 2025

1.7 years ago

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.7 years ago

1w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while DeepSeek R1 Zero'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 Zero's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

—

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Zero and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek R1 Zero
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Zero or Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Zero leads the LLM Stats Score 16.0 to 4.2. DeepSeek R1 Zero is made by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Zero compare to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Zero scores MATH-500: 95.9%, AIME 2024: 86.7%, GPQA: 73.3%, LiveCodeBench: 50.0%. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct scores Arena Hard: 87.6%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MT-Bench: 83.5%, IFEval: 82.9%, MATH: 70.6%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Zero and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Zero supports an unknown number of tokens and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct supports 33K 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 Zero and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (16.0 vs 4.2), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Zero and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek R1 Zero is developed by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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