Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 vs Mistral Small 3 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 114.3x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4.6 vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct — which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 (by Anthropic) and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct (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.

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 114.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Opus 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 114.3x 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

1 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Jun 08 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 71.4x more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.07/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 178.6x more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.14/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Jun 08 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input tokens$0.07
Output tokens$0.14
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Opus 4.6 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,000 tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Mon Jun 08 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Opus 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct does not.

Claude Opus 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Opus 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 12 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

4 months ago

1.0yr newer
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.6

—

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.07/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.14/1M
mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.30/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (91.3% vs 45.3%)
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 93.0%. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct scores Arena Hard: 87.6%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MT-Bench: 83.5%, IFEval: 82.9%, MATH: 70.6%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 71.4x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct costs $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct supports 32K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 32K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.07/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.6 and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct?

Claude Opus 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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