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DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct are closely matched at 1.2 and 4.2 on the LLM Stats Score.

DeepSeek · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and 4.2.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct 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 VL2 Small

  • you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
DeepSeek
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
1.2
#327
4.2
#308
Reasoning
-4.0
#345
4.2
#302
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 9 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

1 shared

DeepSeek VL2 Small outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MMMU).

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

8.0B diff

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct has 8.0B more parameters than DeepSeek VL2 Small, making it 50.0% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
16.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
16.0B
DeepSeek VL2 Small
24.0B
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is 3 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.8 years ago

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.5 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and 4.2. DeepSeek VL2 Small is made by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3.1 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 VL2 Small compare to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (1.2 vs 4.2), licensing (deepseek vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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