Alternatives

# Cheaper Mistral Alternatives in October 2026

> The strongest lower-cost alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Qwen3.7 Flash from Alibaba (Qwen): 3.1 points behind Mistral Large 4, 18.8× cheaper per token. Compared against Mistral Large 4, Mistral's current top model.
- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/cheaper
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Title: Cheaper Mistral Alternatives (October 2026) | Noometry

The strongest lower-cost alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Qwen3.7 Flash from Alibaba (Qwen): 3.1 points behind Mistral Large 4, 18.8× cheaper per token. Compared against Mistral Large 4, Mistral's current top model.

Last verified October 10, 2026

1.  ## [Qwen3.7 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-7-flash) Alibaba (Qwen)
    
    3.1 points behind Mistral Large 4, 18.8× cheaper per token.
    
    Score 39.9, $0.055 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-large-4-vs-qwen3-7-flash)
    
2.  ## [gpt-oss-120b](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-oss-120b) OpenAI
    
    6.8 points behind Mistral Large 4, 14.7× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 36.3, $0.0703 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-oss-120b-vs-mistral-large-4)
    
3.  ## [Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B](https://noometry.com/models/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b) NVIDIA
    
    2.5 points behind Mistral Large 4, 11.8× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 40.6, $0.0875 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-large-4-vs-nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b)
    
4.  ## [Gemma 4 26B A4B IT](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it) Google
    
    about as strong as Mistral Large 4, 9.7× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 43.5, $0.11 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-vs-mistral-large-4)
    
5.  ## [Granite 4.2 8B](https://noometry.com/models/granite-4-2-8b) IBM
    
    2.5 points behind Mistral Large 4, 9.6× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 40.5, $0.11 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/granite-4-2-8b-vs-mistral-large-4)
    
6.  ## [Hy3](https://noometry.com/models/hy3) Tencent
    
    about as strong as Mistral Large 4, 7.2× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 44.2, $0.14 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/hy3-vs-mistral-large-4)
    
7.  ## [GLM-4.7-Flash](https://noometry.com/models/glm-4-7-flash) Z.ai (Zhipu)
    
    4.3 points behind Mistral Large 4, 7.1× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 38.8, $0.15 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/glm-4-7-flash-vs-mistral-large-4)
    
8.  ## [Step 3.5 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/step-3-5-flash) StepFun
    
    about as strong as Mistral Large 4, 6.9× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 42.3, $0.15 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Large 4](https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-large-4-vs-step-3-5-flash)
    

More: [All alternatives](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral), [Open-source](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/open-source), [For coding](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/coding)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best alternative to Mistral?

The strongest lower-cost alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Qwen3.7 Flash from Alibaba (Qwen): 3.1 points behind Mistral Large 4, 18.8× cheaper per token. Compared against Mistral Large 4, Mistral's current top model.

### How were these alternatives chosen?

Each is the highest-ranked model from a different provider that costs less per token and scores within 8 points, compared on the Noometry Index against Mistral Large 4.