Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 vs Mistral Small 4
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 (2025) and Mistral Small 4 (2026) are general-purpose language models from Google DeepMind and MistralAI. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 ships a 1M-token context window, while Mistral Small 4 ships a 256k-token context window. On pricing, Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input tokens versus $1.25/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Small 4 is ~733% cheaper at $0.15/1M; pay for Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 only for long-context analysis.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-05-06 | 2026-03-16 |
| Context window | 1M | 256k |
| Parameters | — | 119B (6.5B active) |
| Architecture | decoder only | moe |
| License | Unknown | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $1.25/1M tokens | $0.15/1M tokens |
| Output price | $10/1M tokens | $0.6/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Small 4, multimodal input: Mistral Small 4, function calling: Mistral Small 4, tool use: Mistral Small 4, and structured outputs: Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 lists $1.25/1M input and $10/1M output tokens, while Mistral Small 4 lists $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Small 4 lower by about $3.59 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 2, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 when long-context analysis and larger context windows are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Small 4 when vision-heavy evaluation, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 supports 1M tokens, while Mistral Small 4 supports 256k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 costs $1.25/1M input and $10/1M output tokens. Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or Mistral Small 4 open source?
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 is listed under Unknown. Mistral Small 4 is listed under Apache 2.0. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 and Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 is available on OpenRouter. Mistral Small 4 is available on OpenRouter and NVIDIA NIM. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.