DeepSeek — reasoning & value
DeepSeek shook the industry by matching frontier models at a fraction of the cost. Its V3 line uses a large Mixture-of-Experts design (hundreds of billions of parameters total, but only ~37B active per token, so it is efficient), and the R1 line specialises in step-by-step reasoning. The MIT license is one of the most permissive in the field, and DeepSeek is consistently among the cheapest to run via API.
Strengths: reasoning, math, coding, permissive license, very low cost. Watch-outs: the full models are huge — locally you will typically run the smaller distilled versions.
Llama — the ecosystem king
Llama from Meta is the model that started the open-weight movement, and its greatest asset is its ecosystem: more fine-tunes, tutorials, tools and community support than any other family. The Llama 4 generation pushes very long context windows. Note the license is not fully open — it is a custom community license that permits commercial use but adds conditions (including for the very largest companies) and an acceptable-use policy.
Strengths: huge ecosystem, easy fine-tuning, long context, strong general chat. Watch-outs: custom license (read the terms if you are a large company).
Qwen — the versatile all-rounder
Qwen from Alibaba is arguably the most versatile family: it ships in an enormous range of sizes — from tiny models for phones to giant ones for servers — so there is a Qwen for any hardware. It is a leader on coding and reasoning benchmarks, and most sizes are released under the permissive Apache-2.0 license, making it a favourite for both hobbyists and companies.
Strengths: every size, top-tier coding, permissive license, strong multilingual. Watch-outs: so many variants it can be hard to pick.
Mistral — the European, permissive option
Mistral is Europe's flagship AI lab, known for efficient models that punch above their size and for releasing many of them under Apache-2.0. Its Devstral models target agentic coding, and Mistral is a natural fit for European organisations with data-sovereignty needs. Some top-end models are commercial-licensed, but the open ones are genuinely permissive.
Strengths: efficiency, permissive licensing, EU data sovereignty, strong coding (Devstral). Watch-outs: the very largest Mistral models are commercial, not open.
Head-to-head table
| Family | Maker | License | Best known for | Runs local? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek 🇨🇳 | MIT | Reasoning, coding, low cost | Distills yes; full = server |
| Llama | Meta 🇺🇸 | Community (custom) | Ecosystem, long context | Yes (8B–70B) |
| Qwen | Alibaba 🇨🇳 | Apache-2.0 (most) | All sizes, coding, multilingual | Yes (any size) |
| Mistral | Mistral AI 🇫🇷 | Apache-2.0 (many) | Efficiency, EU, agentic coding | Yes |
Which one should you choose?
- Best reasoning & math, lowest cost: DeepSeek.
- Best coding: Qwen (or DeepSeek) — both lead open coding benchmarks.
- Biggest ecosystem & easiest fine-tuning: Llama.
- Any hardware, from phone to server: Qwen (widest size range).
- Permissive license / EU data sovereignty: Mistral (or Qwen — both Apache-2.0).
- Running on your own PC: pick a size that fits your VRAM — see Which AI model can your PC run?
The honest truth: all four are excellent, and the gap to closed models has nearly closed. For most people the deciding factors are license and the size that fits your hardware — not raw benchmark points.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which open-source model is best in 2026?
There is no single winner. DeepSeek leads on reasoning and value, Qwen on versatility and coding, Llama on ecosystem, and Mistral on efficiency and permissive licensing. Choose by use case and hardware.
Are these models free?
The weights are free to download and run. Licenses vary: DeepSeek is MIT, Qwen and many Mistral models are Apache-2.0 (fully permissive), while Llama uses a custom community license with conditions.
Which is best for coding?
Qwen and DeepSeek lead open coding benchmarks (both around 70% on SWE-bench Verified as reported by their authors). Mistral's Devstral is also strong for agentic, multi-file coding.
Can I run these on my own computer?
Yes — in the right size. Llama 8B, Qwen 8–14B and Mistral small models run on consumer GPUs; DeepSeek's full models need servers, but its distilled versions run locally. See our VRAM guide.
Which has the most permissive license?
DeepSeek (MIT) and the Apache-2.0 releases from Qwen and Mistral are the most permissive. Llama's community license is commercial-friendly but adds conditions.
DeepSeek vs Qwen — which should I pick?
Both are outstanding and permissive. Pick DeepSeek for reasoning and lowest cost; pick Qwen if you want a specific size for your hardware or the strongest coding all-rounder.