Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 7.5x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking — which is better?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 VL 8B 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 Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 7.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 7.5x cheaper per token

Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
  • 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 Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.07/1M tokens) is 2.6x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($0.18/1M tokens).

For output processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.14/1M tokens) is 14.9x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($2.09/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input tokens$0.07
Output tokens$0.14
Best providerDeepinfra
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Input tokens$0.18
Output tokens$2.09
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

15.0B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has 15.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking, making it 166.7% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
9.0Bparameters
24.0B
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
9.0B
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,000 tokens.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct does not.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 8B 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 Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Sep 22, 2025

8 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date.

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

—

Provider Availability

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is available from DeepInfra.

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.07/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.14/1M
mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.30/1M

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.18/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.09/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (69.9% vs 45.3%)
Higher IFEval score (83.2% vs 82.9%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (77.3% vs 66.3%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct or Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 8B 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 Instruct compare to Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct scores Arena Hard: 87.6%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MT-Bench: 83.5%, IFEval: 82.9%, MATH: 70.6%. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking scores DocVQAtest: 95.3%, ScreenSpot: 93.6%, MMLU-Redux: 88.8%, MMBench-V1.1: 87.5%, InfoVQAtest: 86.0%.

Is Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 2.6x cheaper for input tokens. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct costs $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output via deepinfra. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking costs $0.18/M input and $2.09/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct supports 32K tokens and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports 262K 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 3 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Key differences include context window (32K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.07 vs $0.18/M), multimodal support (no vs yes). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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