DeepSeek vs Qwen
DeepSeek and Qwen side by side: model sizes, the VRAM you need, context window, abilities, licence and which one to pick.
Side by side
| DeepSeek | Qwen | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Open-weight models | Open-weight models |
| Developer | DeepSeek | Alibaba Cloud (Qwen team) |
| Newest model | DeepSeek-V4.1 Flash · Sep 2026 | Qwen3.8 · Aug 2026 |
| Sizes | Cloud-size only | 0.8B · 2B · 4B · 9B · 27B · 35B · 122B |
| Smallest VRAM (4-bit) | Data-centre GPUs | ~2 GB (Qwen3.5 0.8B) |
| Context window | — | 256K tokens |
| Abilities | Tool callingReasoning modeImage input | Tool callingReasoning modeImage input |
| Licence | MIT | Apache 2.0 |
| Run it | ollama run deepseek-v4.1-flash:cloud | ollama run qwen3.5:0.8b |
Which one should you pick?
- Only Qwen can run on your own hardware at a normal size.
Pick DeepSeek if…
- you need an MIT-licensed frontier model to self-host
- you want visible step-by-step reasoning (R1)
- you need a 1M-token context in an open model
Pick Qwen if…
- you want the best model for a given amount of VRAM
- you need a permissive Apache 2.0 licence
- you want image input in small models
VRAM and download size
Ollama's default 4-bit builds with an 8K context. Read GB as system RAM on a CPU-only machine or a Mac.
DeepSeek
Only data-centre sizes; most people use it through Ollama cloud or a hosted API.
Qwen
| Model | Download | VRAM |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.5 0.8B | 1.3 GB | ~2 GB |
| Qwen3.5 2B | 2.6 GB | ~3.5 GB |
| Qwen3.5 4B | 4.1 GB | ~5.5 GB |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9 GB | ~10.5 GB |
| Qwen3.8 27B | 18 GB | ~20.5 GB |
| Qwen3.6 27B | 18 GB | ~20.5 GB |
| Qwen3.5 27B | 21 GB | ~24 GB |
| Qwen3.6 35B | 23 GB | ~26 GB |
| Qwen3.5 35B | 24 GB | ~27 GB |
| Qwen3.5 122B | 81 GB | ~90 GB |
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek better than Qwen?
It depends on the job and your hardware. Only Qwen can run on your own hardware at a normal size. For quality, test both on your own prompts: benchmark rankings change with every release.
Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek or Qwen?
DeepSeek has no size that fits a single consumer GPU. Qwen starts at ~2 GB (1.3 GB download).
Can I use DeepSeek and Qwen commercially?
DeepSeek: MIT. Qwen: Apache 2.0. Check the exact licence of the model you deploy; custom licences can limit very large companies or certain uses.
More comparisons
- Qwen vs Llama
- Gemma vs Llama
- gpt-oss vs Qwen
- Kimi vs DeepSeek
- GLM vs Qwen
- Mistral vs Llama
- Qwen Coder vs Devstral
- Claude vs GPT
- Claude vs Gemini
- Gemini vs GPT
- Phi vs Gemma
- Nemotron vs Qwen
- Llama 3.1 vs Llama 4
- Gemma 3 vs Gemma 4
- Qwen3 vs Qwen3.5
- Qwen3.6 vs Qwen3.8
- Gemma 4 vs Qwen3.5
- DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3
- gpt-oss vs Qwen3.8
- Muse Glimmer vs Qwen3.8
- Qwen3-Coder vs Devstral Small 2