DeepSeek R1 Zero vs QwQ-32B-Preview
DeepSeek R1 Zero and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched at 16.0 and 9.0 on the LLM Stats Score.
DeepSeek · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Zero and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 16.0 and 9.0.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek R1 Zero wins 3; 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
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Choose QwQ-32B-Preview
- you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.20/M output
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Zero · 4 for QwQ-32B-Preview
DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, MATH-500), while QwQ-32B-Preview is better at 0 benchmarks.
DeepSeek R1 Zero shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek R1 Zero has 638.5B more parameters than QwQ-32B-Preview, making it 1964.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies output context (32,768 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Zero is licensed under MIT, while QwQ-32B-Preview 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 QwQ-32B-Preview was released on 2024-11-28.
DeepSeek R1 Zero is 2 months newer than QwQ-32B-Preview.
Jan 20, 2025
1.7 years ago
1mo newerNov 28, 2024
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
QwQ-32B-Preview has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-28, while DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm QwQ-32B-Preview's training data extends to 2024-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date.
—
Nov 2024
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Zero and QwQ-32B-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Zero vs QwQ-32B-Preview.