Model Comparison

Mistral Small vs Qwen3.8 MaxWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Max across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Mistral Small vs Qwen3.8 Max — which is better?

Mistral Small (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3.8 Max (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.

Choose Mistral Small if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen3.8 Max if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Maxdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2378.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2378.0B more parameters than Mistral Small, making it 10809.1% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small
22.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
22.0B
Mistral Small
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only Mistral Small specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small does not.

Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Mistral Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small is licensed under Mistral Research License, while Qwen3.8 Max uses a proprietary license.

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

Mistral Small

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 23 months newer than Mistral Small.

Mistral Small

Sep 17, 2024

1.9 years ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

2 days ago

1.9yr 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→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Larger context window (32,768 tokens)
Has open weights
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.8 Max

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Mistral Small or Qwen3.8 Max?

Mistral Small (Mistral AI) and Qwen3.8 Max (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Mistral Small compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 86.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Max?

Mistral Small supports 33K tokens and Qwen3.8 Max supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Mistral Research License vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral Small and Qwen3.8 Max?

Mistral Small is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3.8 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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