DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B vs Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B (2025) and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 (2024) are frontier reasoning models from Alibaba and MistralAI. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B ships a 160K-token context window, while Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 ships a 64K-token context window. On pricing, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B costs $0.2/1M input tokens versus $2/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is ~900% cheaper at $0.2/1M; pay for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2025-01-01 | 2024-07-01 |
| Context window | 160K | 64K |
| Parameters | 8B | 8x22B |
| Architecture | decoder only | mixture of experts |
| License | Open Source | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.2/1M tokens | $2/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.2/1M tokens | $2/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and function calling: Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B lists $0.2/1M input and $0.2/1M output tokens, while Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 lists $2/1M input and $2/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B lower by about $1.8 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B when reasoning depth, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 when provider fit are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B supports 160K tokens, while Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 supports 64K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B costs $0.2/1M input and $0.2/1M output tokens. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 costs $2/1M input and $2/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 open source?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is listed under Open Source. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 is listed under Apache 2.0. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for reasoning mode, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for function calling, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is available on Fireworks AI. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 is available on Replicate API. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-18. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.