Model comparison
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Mistral Small 3
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 30.9 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemma 4 26B A4B IT's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.
Google
Mistral AISummary
- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher in 8 categories and Mistral Small 3 in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads 45.7 to 15.3.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 82.2% for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and 6.7% for Mistral Small 3.
- Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.0765 / $0.26 for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 33K.
Side by side
| Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | |
| Noometry Index | 43.1 | 30.9 |
| Released | 2026-04-02 | 2025-01-30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 262K | 33K |
| Max output | 33K | 16K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.0765 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.26 | $0.08 |
| Results tracked | 28 | 24 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 38.8 (#156), Mistral Small 3: 36.0 (#203)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1446 | 1246 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1359 | — |
| SciCode | 40% | — |
| WeirdML | 35.2% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 45.3% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 50.4% |
| ALE-Bench | 927.17 | — |
Reasoning Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.1 (#205), Mistral Small 3: 18.2 (#269)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Puzzles | 6% | 0% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1438 | 1233 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.85 | 127.06 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 74.9% | — |
| LMCA | 29.7% | — |
Math Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#61), Mistral Small 3: 15.3 (#290)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 82.2% | 6.7% |
| LMArena Math | 1469 | 1240 |
Knowledge Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.6 (#79), Mistral Small 3: 25.0 (#258)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 73.2% | 47.3% |
| LMArena Expert | 1447 | 1202 |
| Confabulations | — | 25.2% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.2% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.9 (#43), Mistral Small 3: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1260 | — |
Multilingual Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.3 (#68), Mistral Small 3: 37.5 (#231)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1422 | 1198 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1495 | 1204 |
| LMArena French | 1459 | 1202 |
| LMArena Russian | 1434 | 1216 |
| LMArena German | — | 1211 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1111 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1188 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1415 | — |
Instruction Following Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 75.0 (#78), Mistral Small 3: 63.9 (#224)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1214 |
Long Context Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#87), Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#206)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1427 | 1246 |
Writing & Preference Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.8 (#110), Mistral Small 3: 32.4 (#275)
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1434 | 1234 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | 1195 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1305 | 707 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1442 | 1217 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better than Mistral Small 3?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 30.9 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemma 4 26B A4B IT's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Mistral Small 3?
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Gemma 4 26B A4B IT lists at $0.0765 and $0.26.
Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Mistral Small 3 better for coding?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher on coding benchmarks: 38.8 versus 36.0 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT does, with 262K tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and Mistral Small 3 share?
18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Small 3 has 24.