Magistral Small 2506 vs Magistral Small 2509

Magistral Small 2506 leads llmrun Score 88.7 to 85.5 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M.

Model A · Mistral AI

Magistral Small 2506

88.7llmrun Score

23.6B · 40K context · Apache 2.0 · Jun 2025

Chat

Model B · Mistral AI

Magistral Small 2509

85.5llmrun Score

24.0B · 128K context · Apache 2.0 · Sep 2025

Chat

Which should you choose?

Choose Magistral Small 2506 if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
88.7 vs 85.5, ranges overlap

Choose Magistral Small 2509 if you want…

Longer context window
128K vs 40K tokens
Newer release
Sep 2025 vs Jun 2025

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryMagistral Small 2506Magistral Small 2509

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 10.1 GB

Magistral Small 2509

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 10.3 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

IQ2_M · ~27 tok/s

11.6 GB · up to 16K

Magistral Small 2509

IQ2_M · ~27 tok/s

11.8 GB · up to 16K

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~20 tok/stight

17.8 GB · up to 4K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/stight

18.1 GB · up to 4K

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~44 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~43 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 32K

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~78 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~77 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 64K

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~34 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~33 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 128K

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~6 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~6 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 64K

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~26 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 128K

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Magistral Small 2506

Q4_K_M · ~26 tok/s

17.8 GB · up to 40K

Magistral Small 2509

Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s

18.1 GB · up to 128K

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Magistral Small 2506 Magistral Small 2509

Overall

Magistral Small 2506

88.784–93

Magistral Small 2509

85.581–90

Science

Magistral Small 2506

no data

Magistral Small 2509

82.775–91

Reasoning

Magistral Small 2506

88.272–104

Magistral Small 2509

84.775–94

Magistral Small 2506 · #65 of 92 open models · #19 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Magistral Small 2509 · #69 of 92 open models · #21 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

2 shared boards: Magistral Small 2506 leads 2, Magistral Small 2509 leads 0 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardMagistral Small 2506Magistral Small 2509

GPQA Diamond

Magistral Small 2506

56.1%#46/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2025

Magistral Small 2509

47.6%#57/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2025

AIME 2024/2025

Magistral Small 2506

30.0%#49/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2025

Magistral Small 2509

28.1%#50/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2025

6 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Magistral Small 2506 (2)

ARC-AGI-20.0%
ARC-AGI5.0%

Only Magistral Small 2509 (4)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantMagistral Small 2506Magistral Small 2509

Q2_K

Magistral Small 2506

10.7 GB8.9 GB file

32K 17.0 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

10.9 GB8.9 GB file

32K 17.2 GB · 128K 37.3 GB

Q3_K_S

Magistral Small 2506

11.0 GB10.4 GB file

32K 17.3 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

11.2 GB10.4 GB file

32K 17.5 GB · 128K 37.6 GB

Q3_K_M

Magistral Small 2506

12.2 GB11.5 GB file

32K 18.5 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

12.4 GB11.5 GB file

32K 18.7 GB · 128K 38.8 GB

Q4_0

Magistral Small 2506

12.5 GB13.5 GB file

32K 18.8 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

12.7 GB13.5 GB file

32K 19.0 GB · 128K 39.2 GB

Q4_K_M

Magistral Small 2506

14.9 GB14.3 GB file

32K 21.2 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

15.1 GB14.3 GB file

32K 21.4 GB · 128K 41.6 GB

Q5_K_M

Magistral Small 2506

17.5 GB16.8 GB file

32K 23.8 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

17.8 GB16.8 GB file

32K 24.1 GB · 128K 44.3 GB

Q6_K

Magistral Small 2506

20.2 GB19.3 GB file

32K 26.5 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

20.5 GB19.3 GB file

32K 26.8 GB · 128K 47.0 GB

Q8_0

Magistral Small 2506

24.3 GB25.1 GB file

32K 30.6 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

24.7 GB25.1 GB file

32K 31.0 GB · 128K 51.2 GB

18 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Magistral Small 2506

7.2 GB6.5 GB file

32K 13.5 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

7.3 GB6.8 GB file

32K 13.6 GB · 128K 33.7 GB

IQ2_XS

Magistral Small 2506

7.8 GB7.2 GB file

32K 14.1 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

7.9 GB7.2 GB file

32K 14.2 GB · 128K 34.3 GB

IQ2_S

Magistral Small 2506

8.1 GB7.5 GB file

32K 14.4 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

8.2 GB7.5 GB file

32K 14.5 GB · 128K 34.6 GB

IQ2_M

Magistral Small 2506

8.7 GB8.1 GB file

32K 15.0 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

8.8 GB8.2 GB file

32K 15.1 GB · 128K 35.2 GB

IQ3_XXS

Magistral Small 2506

9.9 GB9.3 GB file

32K 16.1 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

10.0 GB9.4 GB file

32K 16.3 GB · 128K 36.4 GB

Q2_K_S

Magistral Small 2506

10.2 GB8.3 GB file

32K 16.4 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

not listed

IQ3_XS

Magistral Small 2506

10.4 GB9.9 GB file

32K 16.7 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

10.6 GB9.9 GB file

32K 16.9 GB · 128K 37.0 GB

IQ3_S

Magistral Small 2506

10.7 GB10.4 GB file

32K 17.0 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

not listed

IQ3_M

Magistral Small 2506

11.3 GB10.7 GB file

32K 17.6 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

11.5 GB10.7 GB file

32K 17.8 GB · 128K 37.9 GB

Q3_K_L

Magistral Small 2506

12.8 GB12.4 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

13.0 GB12.4 GB file

32K 19.3 GB · 128K 39.5 GB

IQ4_XS

Magistral Small 2506

13.4 GB12.8 GB file

32K 19.7 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

13.6 GB12.8 GB file

32K 19.9 GB · 128K 40.1 GB

IQ4_NL

Magistral Small 2506

14.0 GB13.5 GB file

32K 20.3 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

14.2 GB13.5 GB file

32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB

Q4_1

Magistral Small 2506

14.0 GB14.9 GB file

32K 20.3 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

14.2 GB14.9 GB file

32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB

Q4_K_S

Magistral Small 2506

14.0 GB13.5 GB file

32K 20.3 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

14.2 GB13.5 GB file

32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB

Q4_K_L

Magistral Small 2506

15.2 GB14.8 GB file

32K 21.5 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

15.4 GB14.8 GB file

32K 21.7 GB · 128K 41.9 GB

Q5_K_S

Magistral Small 2506

16.9 GB16.3 GB file

32K 23.2 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

17.2 GB16.3 GB file

32K 23.5 GB · 128K 43.7 GB

Q5_K_L

Magistral Small 2506

17.8 GB17.2 GB file

32K 24.1 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

18.1 GB17.2 GB file

32K 24.4 GB · 128K 44.6 GB

BF16

Magistral Small 2506

47.9 GB47.2 GB file

32K 54.2 GB · 128K —

Magistral Small 2509

48.7 GB47.2 GB file

32K 55.0 GB · 128K 75.2 GB

How to run each

Magistral Small 2506

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/bartowski/mistralai_Magistral-Small-2506-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Magistral Small 2506 →

Magistral Small 2509

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Magistral-Small-2509-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Magistral Small 2509 →

Specifications

Specifications of Magistral Small 2506 and Magistral Small 2509
Spec	Magistral Small 2506	Magistral Small 2509
Publisher	Mistral AI	Mistral AI
Parameters	23.6B	24.0B
Architecture	MistralForCausalLM	Mistral3ForConditionalGeneration
Context	40K tokens	128K tokens
Modalities	Chat	Chat
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0
Released	Jun 2025	Sep 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Magistral Small 2506 or Magistral Small 2509?

Magistral Small 2506 leads llmrun Score 88.7 to 85.5 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M. Choose Magistral Small 2506 for higher llmrun Score; choose Magistral Small 2509 for longer context window and newer release.

Which needs less VRAM, Magistral Small 2506 or Magistral Small 2509?

At Q4_K_M, Magistral Small 2506 requires 14.9 GB while Magistral Small 2509 needs 15.1 GB, making Magistral Small 2506 the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 44 tok/s for Magistral Small 2506 (Q4_K_M) and 43 tok/s for Magistral Small 2509 (Q4_K_M), so Magistral Small 2506 is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Magistral Small 2506 or Magistral Small 2509 on a 16 GB GPU?

Magistral Small 2506 fits at Q4_K_M; Magistral Small 2509 fits at Q4_K_M.

Which has a longer context window, Magistral Small 2506 or Magistral Small 2509?

Magistral Small 2506 supports 40,960 tokens and Magistral Small 2509 supports 131,072 tokens.