Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Qwen3 VL 4B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking — which is better?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking (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.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Base if…

  • you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Mistral Small 3 24B Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Jun 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

19.6B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has 19.6B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking, making it 490.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
23.6Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking
4.0Bparameters
23.6B
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
4.0B
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Wed Jun 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking support multimodal inputs.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3 24B Base was released on 2025-01-30, while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is 8 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Base.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

Sep 22, 2025

9 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Base's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking's cutoff date.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Oct 2023

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Mistral AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (64.1% vs 34.4%)
Higher MMLU score (81.5% vs 80.7%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (73.6% vs 54.4%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3 24B Base or Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Base is made by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Mistral Small 3 24B Base compare to Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base scores ARC-C: 91.3%, GSM8k: 80.7%, MMLU: 80.7%, TriviaQA: 80.3%, MBPP: 69.6%. Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking scores DocVQAtest: 94.2%, ScreenSpot: 92.9%, MMBench-V1.1: 86.7%, MMLU-Redux: 86.0%, AI2D: 84.9%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Who makes Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 4B Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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