Mistral Medium 3 Instruct vs Mistral Small 4
Mistral Medium 3 Instruct (2025) and Mistral Small 4 (2026) are compact production models from MistralAI. Mistral Medium 3 Instruct ships a 128K-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 $0.40/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Small 4 is ~167% cheaper at $0.15/1M; pay for Mistral Medium 3 Instruct only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Mistral Medium 3 Instruct | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Long context | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 128K | 256K |
| Cheapest output | $2/1M tokens | $0.60/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 3 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Local decision data tags Mistral Medium 3 Instruct for Long context.
- Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Small 4 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.60/1M tokens.
- Mistral Small 4 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Mistral Small 4 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Small 4 for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Mistral Medium 3 Instruct
$820
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Mistral AI Studio
Mistral Small 4
$270
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $550. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on NVIDIA NIM and Mistral AI Studio; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Small 4 is $1.40/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Mistral Small 4 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on NVIDIA NIM and Mistral AI Studio; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Medium 3 Instruct is $1.40/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-10-01 | 2026-03-16 |
| Context window | 128K | 256K |
| Parameters | — | 119B (6.5B active) |
| Architecture | decoder only | moe |
| License | 1 | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | 2025-06 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Mistral Medium 3 Instruct | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.40/1M tokens | $0.15/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2/1M tokens | $0.60/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Mistral Medium 3 Instruct | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| 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: Mistral Small 4, multimodal input: Mistral Small 4, function calling: Mistral Small 4, and tool use: Mistral Small 4. 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 Medium 3 Instruct lists $0.40/1M input and $2/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Small 4 lists $0.15/1M input and $0.60/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Small 4 lower by about $0.59 per million blended tokens. Availability is 2 providers versus 3, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Mistral Medium 3 Instruct when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Small 4 when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost 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.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Mistral Medium 3 Instruct or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 supports 256K tokens, while Mistral Medium 3 Instruct supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Medium 3 Instruct or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Mistral Medium 3 Instruct costs $0.40/1M input and $2/1M output tokens. Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.60/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Mistral Medium 3 Instruct or Mistral Small 4 open source?
Mistral Medium 3 Instruct is listed under 1. 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, Mistral Medium 3 Instruct 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, Mistral Medium 3 Instruct 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 Mistral Medium 3 Instruct and Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Medium 3 Instruct is available on NVIDIA NIM and Mistral AI Studio. Mistral Small 4 is available on OpenRouter, NVIDIA NIM, and Mistral AI Studio. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.