# Mistral Small 3.2 vs Sonar

> Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.8 to 30.8 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.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-small-3-2-vs-sonar
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Sonar leads 52.6 to 45.1.
- 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.

## Snapshot

| | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | Perplexity |
| Noometry Index | 30.8 | 37.8 |
| Rank | 271 | 184 |
| Context | 256K | 128K |
| Input $/M | $0.0938 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $0.25 | $1 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Mistral Small 3.2: —
- Sonar: 35.1 (#217)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Coding | — | 35.1% |

## Reasoning

- Mistral Small 3.2: 17.5 (#282)
- Sonar: 20.3 (#221)

| 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 | 131.73 | — |
| LiveBench | — | 46.9% |

## Math

- Mistral Small 3.2: 24.9 (#251)
- Sonar: 31.3 (#197)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 30.3% | — |
| LiveBench Math | — | 41.6% |

## Knowledge

- Mistral Small 3.2: 26.8 (#249)
- Sonar: —

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 49.1% | — |

## Instruction Following

- Mistral Small 3.2: —
- Sonar: 71.5 (#146)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | — | 76.2% |

## Writing & Preference

- Mistral Small 3.2: 45.1 (#219)
- Sonar: 52.6 (#166)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3.2 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1255 | — |
| LiveBench Language | — | 44.1% |

## FAQ

### Is Mistral Small 3.2 better than Sonar?

Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.8 to 30.8 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.