Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 4.2. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 43.0x cheaper per token.
Mistral AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3.8 Max leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 4.2, ranking #11 overall.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3.8 Max wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 43.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3.8 Max also accepts a larger context window (256,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 43.0x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3.8 Max
- overall performance matters — it scores 51.9 and ranks #11 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
8 reported for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct · 42 for Qwen3.8 Max
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 33.0x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($1.65/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.08/1M tokens) is 61.9x cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max ($4.95/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3.8 Max is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3.8 Max has 2376.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct, making it 9900.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3.8 Max accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,768 tokens. Qwen3.8 Max can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct does not.
Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Qwen3.8 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Qwen3.8 Max uses Qwen3.8-Max License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Qwen3.8-Max License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.
Qwen3.8 Max is 18 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.
Jan 30, 2025
1.6 years ago
Aug 2, 2026
1 months ago
1.5yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Qwen3.8 Max'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 Qwen3.8 Max's cutoff date.
Oct 2023
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Provider Availability
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI. Qwen3.8 Max is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Novita, Together.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Qwen3.8 Max
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max.