Model Comparison

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Mistral SmallWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mistral Small across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Mistral Small — which is better?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and Mistral Small (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

On price, Mistral Small is roughly 20.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2024

Choose Mistral Small if…

  • cost matters — it's about 20.0x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mistral Small don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral Small costs less

For input processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 15.0x more expensive than Mistral Small ($0.20/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 25.0x more expensive than Mistral Small ($0.60/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude 3.5 Sonnet is more expensive than Mistral Small.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Input tokens$0.20
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small's 32,768 tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Mistral Small is limited to 32,768 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small 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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Small uses Mistral Research License.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral Small

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is 1 month newer than Mistral Small.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Oct 22, 2024

1.6 years ago

1mo newer
Mistral Small

Sep 17, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Mistral Small is available from Mistral AI.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Mistral Small

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Mistral AI
Mistral Small

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Mistral Small.

Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Mistral Small?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic) and Mistral Small (Mistral AI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Claude 3.5 Sonnet compare to Mistral Small in benchmarks?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores GSM8k: 96.4%, DocVQA: 95.2%, AI2D: 94.7%, HumanEval: 93.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 93.1%.

Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet cheaper than Mistral Small?

Mistral Small is 15.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. Mistral Small costs $0.20/M input and $0.60/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mistral Small?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200K tokens and Mistral Small supports 33K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mistral Small?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 33K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.20/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Mistral Research License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Mistral Small?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic and Mistral Small is developed by Mistral AI.

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