Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Mistral Small 3 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

DeepSeek R1 Zero significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct — which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Zero (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 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.

Choose DeepSeek R1 Zero if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct if…

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

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

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.

Sat Jul 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

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 (32,000 tokens). Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies output context (32,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Sat Jul 04 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

1.5 years ago

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 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

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Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Higher GPQA score (73.3% vs 45.3%)
Mistral AI
Larger context window (32,000 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

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
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

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 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. 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 benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities 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 32K 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 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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