Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Magistral Small 2506
Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Anthropic · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output
Choose Magistral Small 2506
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Small 2506 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Magistral Small 2506 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Claude 3.5 Sonnet specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3.5 Sonnet specifies output context (200,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Magistral Small 2506 does not.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Magistral Small 2506
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while Magistral Small 2506 uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while Magistral Small 2506 was released on 2025-06-10.
Magistral Small 2506 is 8 months newer than Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Oct 22, 2024
1.8 years ago
Jun 10, 2025
1.2 years ago
7mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Small 2506 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Magistral Small 2506's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3.5 Sonnet's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2025
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Magistral Small 2506 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Magistral Small 2506.