Alternatives

# Best Open-Source Mistral Alternatives in October 2026

> The strongest open-weight alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI: 19.9 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.0× pricier; open weights. Compared against Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral's current top model.
- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/open-source
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Title: Best Open-Source Mistral Alternatives (October 2026)

The strongest open-weight alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI: 19.9 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.0× pricier; open weights. Compared against Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral's current top model.

Last verified October 10, 2026

1.  ## [Kimi K3](https://noometry.com/models/kimi-k3) Moonshot AI
    
    19.9 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.0× pricier; open weights.
    
    Score 59.5, $6 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/kimi-k3-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    
2.  ## [GLM-5.3](https://noometry.com/models/glm-5-3) Z.ai (Zhipu)
    
    15.0 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 1.4× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 54.6, $2.15 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/glm-5-3-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    
3.  ## [DeepSeek V4 Pro](https://noometry.com/models/deepseek-v4-pro) DeepSeek
    
    14.6 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 5.5× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 54.2, $0.54 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v4-pro-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    
4.  ## [MiMo-V2.6-Pro](https://noometry.com/models/mimo-v2-6-pro) Xiaomi
    
    7.1 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 5.5× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 46.7, $0.54 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/mimo-v2-6-pro-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    
5.  ## [Inkling-Small](https://noometry.com/models/inkling-small) Thinking Machines Lab
    
    6.9 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 4.7× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 46.5, $0.64 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/inkling-small-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    
6.  ## [Qwen3.5 397B-A17B](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-5-397b-a17b) Alibaba (Qwen)
    
    6.1 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.2× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 45.7, $1.35 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-medium-3-5-vs-qwen3-5-397b-a17b)
    
7.  ## [Nemotron 3 Ultra](https://noometry.com/models/nemotron-3-ultra) NVIDIA
    
    5.1 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.9× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 44.7, $1.05 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-medium-3-5-vs-nemotron-3-ultra)
    
8.  ## [Hy4 preview](https://noometry.com/models/hy4-preview) Tencent
    
    5.0 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.4× cheaper per token; open weights.
    
    Score 44.6, $1.25 per M tokens blended.[Compare with Mistral Medium 3.5](https://noometry.com/compare/hy4-preview-vs-mistral-medium-3-5)
    

More: [All alternatives](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral), [Cheaper](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/cheaper), [For coding](https://noometry.com/alternatives/mistral/coding)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best alternative to Mistral?

The strongest open-weight alternative to Mistral as of October 2026 is Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI: 19.9 points ahead of Mistral Medium 3.5, 2.0× pricier; open weights. Compared against Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral's current top model.

### How were these alternatives chosen?

Each is the highest-ranked model from a different provider with downloadable weights, compared on the Noometry Index against Mistral Medium 3.5.