Model comparison
Mistral Large 4 vs Mistral Small 3
Mistral Large 4 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Mistral Large 4's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
Mistral AISummary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Mistral Large 4 scores higher in 8 categories and Mistral Small 3 in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Mistral Large 4 leads 60.4 to 32.2.
- Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.68 / $2.09 for Mistral Large 4.
- Mistral Large 4 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 33K.
- Mistral Small 3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | Mistral AI |
| Noometry Index | 43.1 | 31.2 |
| Released | 2026-10-06 | 2025-01-30 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | 33K |
| Max output | 262K | 16K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.68 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.09 | $0.08 |
| Results tracked | 15 | 24 |
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Category by category
Coding Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 48.6 (#57), Mistral Small 3: 36.5 (#207)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1475 | 1246 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1541 | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 45.3% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 50.4% |
Reasoning Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 22.5 (#192), Mistral Small 3: 18.9 (#273)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1444 | 1233 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 27.4% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 127.07 |
Math Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 40.4 (#91), Mistral Small 3: 16.3 (#295)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1488 | 1240 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 6.7% |
Knowledge Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 36.6 (#166), Mistral Small 3: 25.1 (#263)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1447 | 1202 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 47.3% |
| SimpleQA Verified | 20% | — |
| Confabulations | — | 25.2% |
Multilingual Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 52.6 (#82), Mistral Small 3: 37.3 (#236)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1415 | 1198 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1491 | 1204 |
| LMArena Russian | 1414 | 1216 |
| LMArena French | — | 1203 |
| LMArena German | — | 1211 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1111 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1188 |
Instruction Following Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 75.0 (#76), Mistral Small 3: 63.7 (#229)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1424 | 1214 |
Long Context Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 43.6 (#89), Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#211)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1429 | 1246 |
Writing & Preference Mistral Large 4 leads
Mistral Large 4: 60.4 (#97), Mistral Small 3: 32.2 (#280)
| Benchmark | Mistral Large 4 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1427 | 1234 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1361 | 1195 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1424 | 1217 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 707 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Mistral Large 4 better than Mistral Small 3?
Mistral Large 4 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Mistral Large 4's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 4 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; Mistral Large 4 lists at $0.68 and $2.09.
Is Mistral Large 4 or Mistral Small 3 better for coding?
Mistral Large 4 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.6 versus 36.5 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Mistral Large 4 does, with 1.05M tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks do Mistral Large 4 and Mistral Small 3 share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Mistral Large 4 has 15 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Small 3 has 24.