Mistral Small 3 vs Mistral Nemo
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 |
Mistral Nemo
MistralCompact 12B open-weight model co-developed with NVIDIA. Excellent coding performance at minimal cost.
| Input | $0.150/M |
| Output | $0.150/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Self-hosted deployments, cost-sensitive coding, edge deployments |
| Benchmark | 48/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Mistral Nemo | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42 | 48 | Mistral Nemo leads by 6pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 35 | 40 | Mistral Nemo leads by 5pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 44 | 50 | Mistral Nemo leads by 6pts |
| HumanEval | 65 | 70 | Mistral Nemo leads by 5pts |
| BigCodeBench | 28 | 32 | Mistral Nemo leads by 4pts |
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 | Mistral Nemo | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | <$0.01 | Mistral Nemo saves <$0.01 (22%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $0.08 | Mistral Nemo saves $0.01 (13%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $0.41 | Mistral Nemo saves $0.06 (13%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $0.03 | Mistral Small 3 saves <$0.01 (17%) |
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 |
| Mistral Nemo | 48 | $0.002/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
Mistral Nemo
- + Open weight
- + Self-hostable
- - Basic coding ability
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.100/M, but Mistral Nemo scores higher on benchmarks (48 vs 42).
Choose Mistral Small 3 for cost-sensitive projects, Mistral Nemo when performance matters most.
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