Mistral Small 3 vs Grok 4
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 |
Grok 4
xAINext-generation xAI model with enhanced reasoning and coding capability. Competes with Claude Opus and o3 Pro tier.
| Input | $5.00/M |
| Output | $25.00/M |
| Context | 256K tokens |
| Best For | Complex reasoning, advanced coding, enterprise applications |
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 | Grok 4 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | $0.93 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.91 (99%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $6.75 | Mistral Small 3 saves $6.66 (99%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $33.75 | Mistral Small 3 saves $33.27 (99%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $1.50 | Mistral Small 3 saves $1.48 (98%) |
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.
Compare with Other Models
Claude Sonnet 4
AnthropicAnthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.
Claude Opus 4
AnthropicAnthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
AnthropicPrevious generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
AnthropicFast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.
Claude 3 Opus
AnthropicFirst generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.
Claude 3 Sonnet
AnthropicFirst generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.