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DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct are closely matched at 1.2 and -1.3 on the LLM Stats Score.

DeepSeek · Meta · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and -1.3.

In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek VL2 Small 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 VL2 Small

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 5 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024

Choose Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.05/M input and $0.05/M output

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
DeepSeek
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Meta
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
1.2
#320
-1.3
#333
Reasoning
-4.0
#338
-0.8
#324
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
3 of 5
2 of 5
Input price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Context window
—
128,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Vision
0.6#178
-0.3#182
Multimodal
3.2#142
2.4#147
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 11 for Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

5 shared

DeepSeek VL2 Small outperforms in 3 benchmarks (ChartQA, DocVQA, MathVista), while Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (AI2D, MMMU).

DeepSeek VL2 Small has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Mon Sep 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.4B diff

DeepSeek VL2 Small has 5.4B more parameters than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct, making it 50.9% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
16.0Bparameters
Meta
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
10.6Bparameters
16.0B
DeepSeek VL2 Small
10.6B
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.2 11B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.2 11B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mon Sep 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Llama 3.2 11B Instruct uses Llama 3.2 Community License.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

Llama 3.2 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Llama 3.2 11B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25.

DeepSeek VL2 Small is 3 months newer than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.8 years ago

2mo newer
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

Sep 25, 2024

2.0 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.2 11B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while DeepSeek VL2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.2 11B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek VL2 Small's cutoff date.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

—

Llama 3.2 11B Instruct

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Llama 3.2 11B Instruct?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and -1.3. DeepSeek VL2 Small is made by DeepSeek and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is made by Meta. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek VL2 Small compare to Llama 3.2 11B Instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%. Llama 3.2 11B Instruct scores AI2D: 91.1%, DocVQA: 88.4%, ChartQA: 83.4%, VQAv2 (test): 75.2%, MMLU: 73.0%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct?

DeepSeek VL2 Small supports an unknown number of tokens and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (1.2 vs -1.3), licensing (deepseek vs Llama 3.2 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is developed by Meta.

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