Mistral Small 3 vs O3 Mini
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 |
O3 Mini
OpenAIOpenAI's reasoning model at lower cost. Strong at math, coding, and science tasks.
| Input | $1.10/M |
| Output | $4.40/M |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best For | Math, science, coding tasks requiring deep reasoning |
| 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 | O3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42 | 80 | o3-mini leads by 38pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 35 | 76 | o3-mini leads by 41pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 44 | 85 | o3-mini leads by 41pts |
| HumanEval | 65 | 94 | o3-mini leads by 29pts |
| BigCodeBench | 28 | 65 | o3-mini leads by 37pts |
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 | O3 Mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | $0.17 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.16 (93%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $1.27 | Mistral Small 3 saves $1.17 (92%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $6.33 | Mistral Small 3 saves $5.85 (92%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $0.30 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.28 (92%) |
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 |
| O3 Mini | 80 | $0.014/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
O3 Mini
- + Excellent at competitive programming
- + Strong algorithmic reasoning
- - Optimized for reasoning, not chat
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.100/M, but O3 Mini scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 42).
Choose Mistral Small 3 for cost-sensitive projects, O3 Mini when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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