Model comparison
Mistral Small 3.1 vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 31.7 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3.1 costs 3.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 14 shared benchmarks.
Mistral AI
StepFunSummary
- They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. Mistral Small 3.1 scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 5 Preview leads 46.1 to 14.7.
- Mistral Small 3.1 is cheaper at $0.35 / $0.56 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 128K.
- Mistral Small 3.1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 31.7 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2025-03-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 128K | 1.02M |
| Max output | 102K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.35 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.56 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 28 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 38.3 (#179), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1309 | 1480 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 19.7 (#254), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1278 | 1465 |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| Chess Puzzles | 1% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 127.48 | — |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 14.7 (#301), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1262 | 1470 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 3.9% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
| Omni-MATH | 24.8% | — |
Knowledge Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 22.6 (#271), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1257 | 1470 |
| GPQA Diamond | 41.9% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 61% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 39.2% | — |
Multimodal Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 33.2 (#99), Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1136 | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 41.2 (#209), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1255 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1253 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1263 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1283 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1273 | — |
| LMArena German | 1266 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1208 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1206 | — |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 63.6 (#230), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1264 | 1444 |
| IFEval | 75% | — |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 39.5 (#178), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1299 | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
Mistral Small 3.1: 37.0 (#259), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1277 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1253 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1270 | 1447 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 761 | — |
| WildBench | 78.8% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Mistral Small 3.1 better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 31.7 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3.1 costs 3.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3.1 or Step 5 Preview?
Mistral Small 3.1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.35 per million input tokens and $0.56 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Mistral Small 3.1 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 38.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Mistral Small 3.1 and Step 5 Preview share?
14 benchmarks have published results for both models. Mistral Small 3.1 has 28 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.