# Mistral Small 3 vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/mistral-small-3-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 16

## Summary

- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Mistral Small 3 scores higher in 0 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 58.8 to 32.2.
- Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.10 / $0.30 for Step 3.5 Flash.
- Step 3.5 Flash accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 33K.

## Snapshot

| | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 31.2 | 42.3 |
| Rank | 278 | 116 |
| Context | 33K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $0.08 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Mistral Small 3: 36.5 (#207)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1246 | 1436 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 45.3% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 50.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- Mistral Small 3: 18.9 (#273)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1233 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 127.07 | — |

## Math

- Mistral Small 3: 16.3 (#295)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1240 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 6.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Mistral Small 3: 25.1 (#263)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1202 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 47.3% | — |
| Confabulations | 25.2% | — |

## Multilingual

- Mistral Small 3: 37.3 (#236)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1198 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1204 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1203 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1211 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1111 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1188 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1216 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Mistral Small 3: 63.7 (#229)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1214 | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#211)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1246 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Mistral Small 3: 32.2 (#280)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1234 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1195 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1217 | 1405 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 707 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Mistral Small 3 better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index. Mistral Small 3 costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3 or Step 3.5 Flash?

Mistral Small 3 is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash lists at $0.10 and $0.30.

### Is Mistral Small 3 or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 36.5 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 3.5 Flash does, with 256K tokens against 33K.

### How many benchmarks do Mistral Small 3 and Step 3.5 Flash share?

16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Mistral Small 3 has 24 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.