Mistral Small 3 vs Microsoft Phi-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 |
Microsoft Phi-4
MicrosoftMicrosoft's compact 14B model with strong reasoning and coding capability. Excellent value for small-scale deployments.
| Input | $0.100/M |
| Output | $0.300/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Edge deployments, local inference, budget coding |
| Benchmark | 45/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Microsoft Phi-4 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42 | 45 | Microsoft Phi-4 leads by 3pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 35 | 38 | Microsoft Phi-4 leads by 3pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 44 | 46 | Microsoft Phi-4 leads by 2pts |
| HumanEval | 65 | 68 | Microsoft Phi-4 leads by 3pts |
| BigCodeBench | 28 | 30 | Microsoft Phi-4 leads by 2pts |
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 | Microsoft Phi-4 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | $0.01 | Mistral Small 3 saves <$0.01 (0%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $0.10 | Mistral Small 3 saves <$0.01 (0%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $0.47 | Mistral Small 3 saves <$0.01 (0%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $0.02 | Mistral Small 3 saves <$0.01 (0%) |
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 |
| Microsoft Phi-4 | 45 | $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
Microsoft Phi-4
- + Small model, runs locally
- - Limited capacity
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.100/M, but Microsoft Phi-4 scores higher on benchmarks (45 vs 42).
Choose Mistral Small 3 for cost-sensitive projects, Microsoft Phi-4 when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude 3.5 Sonnet
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Claude 3.5 Haiku
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Claude 3 Opus
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Claude 3 Sonnet
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