Mistral Small 3 vs Sarvam 30B
Mistral Small 3 (2025) and Sarvam 30B (2026) are compact production models from MistralAI and Sarvam.ai. Mistral Small 3 ships a 33k-token context window, while Sarvam 30B ships a 66k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Sarvam 30B is safer overall; choose Mistral Small 3 when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Mistral Small 3 | Sarvam 30B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | tool-calling agents and provider-routed production | tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use | Agents and JSON / Tool use |
| Context window | 33k | 66k |
| Cheapest output | $0.30/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 0 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Mistral Small 3 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Mistral Small 3 uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Small 3 for Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
- Sarvam 30B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Local decision data tags Sarvam 30B for Agents and JSON / Tool use.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Mistral Small 3
$155
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Together AI
Sarvam 30B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Small 3 and Sarvam 30B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Sarvam 30B and Mistral Small 3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Small 3 adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-01-01 | 2026-03-22 |
| Context window | 33k | 66k |
| Parameters | 24B | 30B (2.4B active) |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Mixture of Experts |
| License | Apache 2.0OSI-approved | Apache 2.0OSI-approved |
| Openness | Open source | Open source |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: permitted | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-10 | 2025-06 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Mistral Small 3 | Sarvam 30B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.10/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $0.30/1M tokens | - |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Mistral Small 3 | Sarvam 30B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on structured outputs: Mistral Small 3. Both models share 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 Small 3 has $0.10/1M input tokens and Sarvam 30B has no token price sourced yet. Provider availability is 2 tracked routes versus 0. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Mistral Small 3 when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Sarvam 30B when long-context analysis and larger context windows 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. For teams standardizing a stack, that distinction is often the difference between a benchmark win and a reliable deployment.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Mistral Small 3 or Sarvam 30B?
Sarvam 30B supports 66k tokens, while Mistral Small 3 supports 33k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Is Mistral Small 3 or Sarvam 30B open source?
Mistral Small 3 is listed under Apache 2.0. Sarvam 30B 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 Small 3 or Sarvam 30B?
Both Mistral Small 3 and Sarvam 30B expose function calling. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Which is better for tool use, Mistral Small 3 or Sarvam 30B?
Both Mistral Small 3 and Sarvam 30B expose tool use. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Which is better for structured outputs, Mistral Small 3 or Sarvam 30B?
Mistral Small 3 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 Mistral Small 3 and Sarvam 30B?
Mistral Small 3 is available on Together AI and Vercel AI Gateway. Sarvam 30B is available on the tracked providers still being sourced. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.