Magistral Small 2509 vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 85.6; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 3.5× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~43 tok/s).
Model A · Mistral AI
Magistral Small 250924.0B · 128K context · Apache 2.0 · Sep 2025
Model B · Alibaba
Qwen3.6 35B A3B36.0B · 4.7B active · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2026
Choose Magistral Small 2509 if you want…
Fits a 16 GB GPU
Q4_K_M · 18.1 GB; Qwen3.6 35B A3B needs 10.4 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
15.1 vs 22.0 GB at Q4_K_M
Also does chat
Qwen3.6 35B A3B doesn't list it
Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B if you want…
Higher llmrun Score
106.8 vs 85.6
Stronger at science
110.1 vs 82.8
Ahead on the benchmarks
4 of 5 shared boards
3.5× faster on RTX 4090
~151 vs ~43 tok/s
Longer context window
256K vs 128K tokens
Also does vision, function-calling
Magistral Small 2509 doesn't list it
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 10.3 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 10.4 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
IQ2_M · ~27 tok/s
11.8 GB · up to 16K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
IQ2_S · ~114 tok/s
11.7 GB · up to 32K
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/stight
18.1 GB · up to 4K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q2_K · ~108 tok/s
15.7 GB · up to 32Kmore headroom
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~43 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 32K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~151 tok/s
22 GB · up to 128Kfaster
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~77 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 64K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~213 tok/s
22 GB · up to 256Kfaster
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~33 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 128K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~125 tok/s
22 GB · up to 256Kfaster
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~6 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 64K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s
22 GB · up to 256Kfaster
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 128K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s
22 GB · up to 256Kfaster
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Magistral Small 2509
Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s
18.1 GB · up to 128K
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s
22 GB · up to 256Kfaster
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
Magistral Small 2509
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Coding
Magistral Small 2509
no data
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Math
Magistral Small 2509
no data
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Science
Magistral Small 2509
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Reasoning
Magistral Small 2509
no data
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Magistral Small 2509 · #80 of 106 open models · #22 of 36 that fit 24 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B · #41 of 106 open models · #3 of 36 that fit 24 GB
Benchmarks
5 shared boards: Magistral Small 2509 leads 0, Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads 4 · Benchmarks imported Nov 2026
Magistral Small 2509
47.6%#60/100 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
84.9%#23/100 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026
Magistral Small 2509
28.1%#53/88 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
86.7%#22/88 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026
Magistral Small 2509
35.2%#55/72 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
36.6%#48/72 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026
Magistral Small 2509
0.3%#48/84 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
0.3%#51/84 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026
Magistral Small 2509
61.3%#46/70 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
73.9%#32/70 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026
6 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
Only Qwen3.6 35B A3B (6)
- FrontierMath20.3%
- Terminal-Bench24.6%
- WeirdML34.5%
- LMCA29.7%
- Mystery Game Puzzles22.0%
- Surface Evolver Bench44.4%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
Magistral Small 2509
10.9 GB8.9 GB file
32K 17.2 GB · 128K 37.3 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
15.7 GB13.5 GB file
32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB
Q3_K_S
Magistral Small 2509
11.2 GB10.4 GB file
32K 17.5 GB · 128K 37.6 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
16.1 GB15.4 GB file
32K 16.4 GB · 128K 17.4 GB
Q3_K_M
Magistral Small 2509
12.4 GB11.5 GB file
32K 18.7 GB · 128K 38.8 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
17.9 GB16.6 GB file
32K 18.2 GB · 128K 19.2 GB
Q4_0
Magistral Small 2509
12.7 GB13.5 GB file
32K 19.0 GB · 128K 39.2 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
18.4 GB19.8 GB file
32K 18.6 GB · 128K 19.6 GB
Q4_K_M
Magistral Small 2509
15.1 GB14.3 GB file
32K 21.4 GB · 128K 41.6 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
22.0 GB22.1 GB file
32K 22.2 GB · 128K 23.2 GB
Q5_K_M
Magistral Small 2509
17.8 GB16.8 GB file
32K 24.1 GB · 128K 44.3 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
26.0 GB26.5 GB file
32K 26.3 GB · 128K 27.3 GB
Q6_K
Magistral Small 2509
20.5 GB19.3 GB file
32K 26.8 GB · 128K 47.0 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
30.0 GB29.3 GB file
32K 30.3 GB · 128K 31.3 GB
Q8_0
Magistral Small 2509
24.7 GB25.1 GB file
32K 31.0 GB · 128K 51.2 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
36.3 GB36.9 GB file
32K 36.6 GB · 128K 37.6 GB
20 more quants
IQ2_XXS
Magistral Small 2509
7.3 GB6.8 GB file
32K 13.6 GB · 128K 33.7 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
10.3 GB10.8 GB file
32K 10.5 GB · 128K 11.5 GB
IQ2_XS
Magistral Small 2509
7.9 GB7.2 GB file
32K 14.2 GB · 128K 34.3 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
11.2 GB11.7 GB file
32K 11.4 GB · 128K 12.4 GB
IQ2_S
Magistral Small 2509
8.2 GB7.5 GB file
32K 14.5 GB · 128K 34.6 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
11.6 GB11.9 GB file
32K 11.9 GB · 128K 12.9 GB
IQ2_M
Magistral Small 2509
8.8 GB8.2 GB file
32K 15.1 GB · 128K 35.2 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
12.5 GB11.5 GB file
32K 12.8 GB · 128K 13.8 GB
IQ3_XXS
Magistral Small 2509
10.0 GB9.4 GB file
32K 16.3 GB · 128K 36.4 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
14.3 GB13.2 GB file
32K 14.6 GB · 128K 15.6 GB
Q2_K_S
Magistral Small 2509
not listed
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
14.8 GB12.2 GB file
32K 15.0 GB · 128K 16.0 GB
IQ3_XS
Magistral Small 2509
10.6 GB9.9 GB file
32K 16.9 GB · 128K 37.0 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
15.2 GB17.1 GB file
32K 15.5 GB · 128K 16.5 GB
IQ3_S
Magistral Small 2509
not listed
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
15.7 GB13.7 GB file
32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB
IQ3_M
Magistral Small 2509
11.5 GB10.7 GB file
32K 17.8 GB · 128K 37.9 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
16.6 GB17.8 GB file
32K 16.8 GB · 128K 17.8 GB
Q3_K_L
Magistral Small 2509
13.0 GB12.4 GB file
32K 19.3 GB · 128K 39.5 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
18.8 GB17.8 GB file
32K 19.1 GB · 128K 20.1 GB
IQ4_XS
Magistral Small 2509
13.6 GB12.8 GB file
32K 19.9 GB · 128K 40.1 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
19.7 GB17.7 GB file
32K 20.0 GB · 128K 21.0 GB
IQ4_NL
Magistral Small 2509
14.2 GB13.5 GB file
32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
20.6 GB18.0 GB file
32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB
Q4_1
Magistral Small 2509
14.2 GB14.9 GB file
32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
20.6 GB22.9 GB file
32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB
Q4_K_S
Magistral Small 2509
14.2 GB13.5 GB file
32K 20.5 GB · 128K 40.7 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
20.6 GB20.9 GB file
32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB
Q4_K_L
Magistral Small 2509
15.4 GB14.8 GB file
32K 21.7 GB · 128K 41.9 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
22.4 GB22.7 GB file
32K 22.7 GB · 128K 23.7 GB
Q5_0
Magistral Small 2509
not listed
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
22.9 GB24.1 GB file
32K 23.1 GB · 128K 24.1 GB
Q5_1
Magistral Small 2509
not listed
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
25.1 GB26.1 GB file
32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB
Q5_K_S
Magistral Small 2509
17.2 GB16.3 GB file
32K 23.5 GB · 128K 43.7 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
25.1 GB24.9 GB file
32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB
Q5_K_L
Magistral Small 2509
18.1 GB17.2 GB file
32K 24.4 GB · 128K 44.6 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
26.5 GB26.2 GB file
32K 26.7 GB · 128K 27.7 GB
BF16
Magistral Small 2509
48.7 GB47.2 GB file
32K 55.0 GB · 128K 75.2 GB
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
72.3 GB69.4 GB file
32K 72.5 GB · 128K 73.6 GB
Magistral Small 2509
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Magistral-Small-2509-GGUF:Q4_K_MQwen3.6 35B A3B
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | Magistral Small 2509 | Qwen3.6 35B A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Mistral AI | Alibaba |
| Parameters | 24.0B | 36.0B |
| Active parameters | — | 4.7B per token |
| Architecture | Mistral3ForConditionalGeneration | Qwen3_5MoeForConditionalGeneration |
| Context | 128K tokens | 256K tokens |
| Modalities | Chat | Vision, Function-calling |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Released | Sep 2025 | Apr 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Magistral Small 2509 or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 85.6; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 3.5× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~43 tok/s). Choose Magistral Small 2509 for fits a 16 GB GPU and lighter on memory; choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B for higher llmrun Score and stronger at science.
Which needs less VRAM, Magistral Small 2509 or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
At Q4_K_M, Magistral Small 2509 requires 15.1 GB while Qwen3.6 35B A3B needs 22.0 GB, making Magistral Small 2509 the easier model to run on your local setup.
Which is faster on RTX 4090?
Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 43 tok/s for Magistral Small 2509 (Q4_K_M) and 151 tok/s for Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3.6 35B A3B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.
Can I run Magistral Small 2509 or Qwen3.6 35B A3B on a 16 GB GPU?
Magistral Small 2509 fits at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B fits at Q2_K.
Which has a longer context window, Magistral Small 2509 or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?
Magistral Small 2509 supports 131,072 tokens and Qwen3.6 35B A3B supports 262,144 tokens.