Mistral Medium 3 vs Mistral Small 4
Mistral Medium 3 (2025) and Mistral Small 4 (2026) are compact production models from MistralAI. Mistral Medium 3 ships a 128K-token context window, while Mistral Small 4 ships a 256K-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing. The goal is to make the tradeoff clear before deeper testing.
Mistral Small 4 is safer overall; choose Mistral Medium 3 when coding workflow support matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Mistral Medium 3 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | multimodal apps and tool-calling agents | multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 128K | 256K |
| Cheapest output | - | $0.60/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 0 tracked | 3 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Mistral Medium 3 uniquely exposes Structured outputs and Code execution in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Medium 3 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Small 4 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- 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
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Mistral Small 4
$270
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Small 4; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs and Code execution before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Small 4 and Mistral Medium 3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Medium 3 adds Structured outputs and Code execution in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-05-01 | 2026-03-16 |
| Context window | 128K | 256K |
| Parameters | — | 119B (6.5B active) |
| Architecture | decoder only | moe |
| License | Proprietary | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | 2025-06 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Mistral Medium 3 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $0.15/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $0.60/1M tokens |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Mistral Medium 3 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | Yes | 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: Mistral Medium 3 and code execution: Mistral Medium 3. Both models share vision, multimodal input, function calling, and tool use, 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.
Pricing coverage is uneven: Mistral Medium 3 has no token price sourced yet and Mistral Small 4 has $0.15/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 0 tracked routes versus 3. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Mistral Medium 3 when coding workflow support are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Small 4 when long-context analysis, larger context windows, 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 has a larger context window, Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 supports 256K tokens, while Mistral Medium 3 supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Is Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Small 4 open source?
Mistral Medium 3 is listed under Proprietary. 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 or Mistral Small 4?
Both Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Small 4 expose vision. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Which is better for multimodal input, Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Small 4?
Both Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Small 4 expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Which is better for function calling, Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Small 4?
Both Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Small 4 expose function calling. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Medium 3 is available on the tracked providers still being sourced. 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: 2026-05-14. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.