Mistral Magistral Small 2509 vs Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 (2024) are compact production models from MistralAI. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 ships a 64K-token context window. On pricing, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.5/1M input tokens versus $2/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is ~300% cheaper at $0.5/1M; pay for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2025-09-01 | 2024-07-01 |
| Context window | — | 64K |
| Parameters | — | 8x22B |
| Architecture | - | mixture of experts |
| License | Proprietary | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.5/1M tokens | $2/1M tokens |
| Output price | $1.5/1M tokens | $2/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on function calling: Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3. 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, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens, while Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 lists $2/1M input and $2/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lower by about $1.2 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 when provider fit 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, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 costs $2/1M input and $2/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 open source?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Proprietary. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 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 function calling, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Mistral Magistral Small 2509 and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 is available on Replicate API. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Mistral Magistral Small 2509 over Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is ~300% cheaper at $0.5/1M; pay for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 only for provider fit. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Mistral Magistral Small 2509; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.