Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 MaxWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max — which is better?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3.8 Max (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 Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen3.8 Max if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2376.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 2376.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct, making it 9900.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
24.0B
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max support multimodal inputs.

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

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Qwen3.8 Max uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3.8 Max

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

Qwen3.8 Max is 17 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.4 years ago

Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

2 days ago

1.4yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Has open weights
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.8 Max

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher GPQA score (92.6% vs 46.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Qwen3.8 Max 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 3.1 24B Instruct compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 86.6%.

What are the main differences between Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Qwen3.8 Max?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3.8 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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