Mistral Small 3 vs Reka Flash
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 |
Reka Flash
RekaReka's fast multimodal model. Compact and efficient for high-volume tasks with vision capability.
| Input | $0.200/M |
| Output | $0.800/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | High-volume tasks, vision + text, cost optimization |
| Benchmark | 40/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Reka Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42 | 40 | Mistral Small leads by 2pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 35 | 32 | Mistral Small leads by 3pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 44 | 42 | Mistral Small leads by 2pts |
| HumanEval | 65 | 62 | Mistral Small leads by 3pts |
| BigCodeBench | 28 | 26 | Mistral Small 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 | Reka Flash | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.01 | $0.03 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.02 (60%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.10 | $0.23 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.14 (59%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.47 | $1.15 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.68 (59%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.02 | $0.06 | Mistral Small 3 saves $0.03 (55%) |
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 |
| Reka Flash | 40 | $0.025/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
Reka Flash
- + Multimodal
- + Fast
- - Basic coding
- - Niche provider
Verdict
Mistral Small 3 wins on both price and performance — $0.100/M input with a benchmark score of 42/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
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