Mistral Small 3 vs GPT-4.1
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
Mistral Small 3
MistralMistral's cost-effective model. Very affordable for general-purpose tasks.
| Input | $0.100/M |
| Output | $0.300/M |
| Context | 32K tokens |
| Best For | High-volume tasks, cost optimization |
| Benchmark | 42/100 |
GPT-4.1
OpenAIUpdated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.
| Input | $2.00/M |
| Output | $8.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Production coding, API development, complex instructions |
| Benchmark | 80/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | GPT-4.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42 | 80 | GPT-4.1 leads by 38pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 35 | 76 | GPT-4.1 leads by 41pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 44 | 82 | GPT-4.1 leads by 38pts |
| HumanEval | 65 | 94 | GPT-4.1 leads by 29pts |
| BigCodeBench | 28 | 68 | GPT-4.1 leads by 40pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Mistral Small 3 | GPT-4.1 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | $0.31 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.30 (96%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $2.30 | Mistral Small 3 saves $2.20 (96%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $11.50 | Mistral Small 3 saves $11.03 (96%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $0.55 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.53 (95%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral Small 3 | 42 | $0.002/pt | Better value |
| GPT-4.1 | 80 | $0.063/pt | Higher cost per point |
Mistral Small 3 delivers the best value at $0.002 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Mistral Small 3
- + Ultra-cheap
- - Very limited capabilities
GPT-4.1
- + Latest GPT model
- + Strong across all benchmarks
- - Premium pricing
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.100/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 42).
Choose Mistral Small 3 for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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