Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 16.4 to 4.2.
Mistral AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 16.4 to 4.2, ranking #226 overall.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
- you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 16.4 and ranks #226 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 4 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
9 reported for Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct · 50 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, SimpleQA).
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has 7.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct, making it 29.2% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifies output context (262,144 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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 30B A3B Instruct
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 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 6 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.
Mar 17, 2025
1.5 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
1.0 years 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
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.