GPT-4.1 mini vs Mistral Small 3
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4.1 mini
OpenAICost-optimized GPT-4.1 variant. Strong coding capability at budget pricing, replacing GPT-4o mini for many use cases.
| Input | $0.400/M |
| Output | $1.60/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | High-volume coding, cost-sensitive projects, automation |
| Benchmark | 68/100 |
Mistral Small 3
MistralMistral's efficient small model. Great performance for its size at very competitive pricing.
| Input | $0.100/M |
| Output | $0.300/M |
| Context | 32K tokens |
| Best For | Chat, summarization, general text tasks |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4.1 mini | Mistral Small 3 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.06 | $0.01 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.05 (80%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.46 | $0.10 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.37 (79%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $2.30 | $0.47 | Mistral Small 3 saves $1.83 (79%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.11 | $0.02 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.09 (77%) |
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 wins on both price and performance — $0.100/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
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