Mistral Magistral Small 2509 vs Qianfan-OCR-Fast
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) and Qianfan-OCR-Fast (2026) are compact production models from MistralAI and Baidu AI. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Qianfan-OCR-Fast ships a 66k-token context window. On pricing, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input tokens versus $0.68/1M 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.
Qianfan-OCR-Fast is safer overall; choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | Qianfan-OCR-Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | multimodal apps |
| Decision fit | General | Vision |
| Context window | — | 66k |
| Cheapest output | $1.50/1M tokens | $2.81/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- 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.
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast uniquely exposes Vision and Multimodal in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Qianfan-OCR-Fast for Vision.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Mistral Magistral Small 2509
$775
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Qianfan-OCR-Fast
$1,247
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $472. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 and Qianfan-OCR-Fast; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $1.31/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast adds Vision and Multimodal in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Qianfan-OCR-Fast and Mistral Magistral Small 2509; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is $1.31/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision and Multimodal before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-09-01 | 2026-04-20 |
| Context window | — | 66k |
| Parameters | 24B | — |
| Architecture | - | decoder only |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | Qianfan-OCR-Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.50/1M tokens | $0.68/1M tokens |
| Output price | $1.50/1M tokens | $2.81/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | Qianfan-OCR-Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | 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 vision: Qianfan-OCR-Fast and multimodal input: Qianfan-OCR-Fast. 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 $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Qianfan-OCR-Fast lists $0.68/1M input and $2.81/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lower by about $0.52 per million blended tokens. Availability is 2 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Qianfan-OCR-Fast when vision-heavy evaluation 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 Qianfan-OCR-Fast?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens. Qianfan-OCR-Fast costs $0.68/1M input and $2.81/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Qianfan-OCR-Fast open source?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Apache 2.0. Qianfan-OCR-Fast 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 vision, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Qianfan-OCR-Fast?
Qianfan-OCR-Fast 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. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for multimodal input, Mistral Magistral Small 2509 or Qianfan-OCR-Fast?
Qianfan-OCR-Fast 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 Mistral Magistral Small 2509 and Qianfan-OCR-Fast?
Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway. Qianfan-OCR-Fast is available on OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Mistral Magistral Small 2509 over Qianfan-OCR-Fast?
Qianfan-OCR-Fast is safer overall; choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Mistral Magistral Small 2509; if it depends on vision-heavy evaluation, run the same evaluation with Qianfan-OCR-Fast.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.