Model Comparison
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking — which is better?
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, SimpleQA). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…
- you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (MMLU, MMLU-Pro, SimpleQA).
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has 212.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct, making it 883.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking specifies output context (262,144 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is 6 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.
Mar 17, 2025
1.2 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
8 months ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking.