Model comparison
Mistral Small 3.2 vs Sonar
Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.5 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3.2 costs 7.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Sonar's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
Mistral AI
PerplexitySummary
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Sonar leads 52.6 to 45.0.
- Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper at $0.0938 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $1 for Sonar.
- Mistral Small 3.2 accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 128K.
- Mistral Small 3.2 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | Perplexity |
| Noometry Index | 31.2 | 38.5 |
| Released | 2025-06-20 | 2024-01-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 256K | 128K |
| Max output | 16K | 4K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.0938 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $1 |
| Results tracked | 6 | 7 |
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Category by category
Coding Not comparable
Mistral Small 3.2: —, Sonar: 35.7 (#221)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Coding | — | 35.1% |
Reasoning Sonar leads
Mistral Small 3.2: 18.1 (#287), Sonar: 21.1 (#227)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 40.4% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 1% | — |
| LiveBench Reasoning | — | 46.3% |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | — | 37.9% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 131.74 | — |
| LiveBench | — | 46.9% |
Math Sonar leads
Mistral Small 3.2: 26.3 (#260), Sonar: 33.7 (#200)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 30.3% | — |
| LiveBench Math | — | 41.6% |
Knowledge Not comparable
Mistral Small 3.2: 26.7 (#256), Sonar: —
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 49.1% | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Mistral Small 3.2: —, Sonar: 71.4 (#150)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | — | 76.2% |
Writing & Preference Sonar leads
Mistral Small 3.2: 45.0 (#224), Sonar: 52.6 (#167)
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1255 | — |
| LiveBench Language | — | 44.1% |
Frequently asked questions
Is Mistral Small 3.2 better than Sonar?
Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.5 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3.2 costs 7.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Sonar's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3.2 or Sonar?
Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper. It lists at $0.0938 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; Sonar lists at $1 and $1.
Which has the bigger context window?
Mistral Small 3.2 does, with 256K tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Mistral Small 3.2 and Sonar share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Mistral Small 3.2 has 6 scored results on Noometry and Sonar has 7.