GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) vs Mistral Magistral Small 2509
GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) (2023) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) are compact production models from OpenAI and MistralAI. GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) ships a 128k-token context window, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On pricing, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input tokens versus $10/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is ~1900% cheaper at $0.50/1M; pay for GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | general production evaluation | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | RAG, Long context, and Classification | General |
| Context window | 128k | — |
| Cheapest output | $30/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 1 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) for RAG, Long context, and Classification.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $1.50/1M tokens.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106)
$15,500
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Mistral Magistral Small 2509
$775
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $14,725. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is $28.50/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 and GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106); plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) is $28.50/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2023-11-06 | 2025-09-01 |
| Context window | 128k | — |
| Parameters | — | 24B |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-04 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $10/1M tokens | $0.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | $30/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on structured outputs: GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106). 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, GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) lists $10/1M input and $30/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lower by about $15.20 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 2, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit, 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. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) costs $10/1M input and $30/1M output tokens. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) or Mistral Magistral Small 2509 open source?
GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) is listed under Proprietary. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Proprietary. 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 structured outputs, GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) has the clearer documented structured outputs signal in this comparison. If structured outputs is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) is available on OpenRouter. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) over Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is ~1900% cheaper at $0.50/1M; pay for GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) only for provider fit. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106); if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Mistral Magistral Small 2509.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.