Model Comparison

Claude Opus 5 vs Mistral Small 4Which is better in 2026?

Comparing Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Claude Opus 5 vs Mistral Small 4 — which is better?

Claude Opus 5 (by Anthropic) and Mistral Small 4 (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 4 is roughly 38.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Opus 5 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 5 if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Mistral Small 4 if…

  • cost matters — it's about 38.1x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4don'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 4 costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 5 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 33.3x more expensive than Mistral Small 4 ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 5 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 41.7x more expensive than Mistral Small 4 ($0.60/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 5 is more expensive than Mistral Small 4.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Opus 5 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 4's 256,000 tokens. Mistral Small 4 can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Claude Opus 5 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4 support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Opus 5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Small 4 uses Apache 2.0.

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

Claude Opus 5

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral Small 4

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 5 was released on 2026-07-24, while Mistral Small 4 was released on 2026-03-16.

Claude Opus 5 is 4 months newer than Mistral Small 4.

Claude Opus 5

Jul 24, 2026

1 days ago

4mo newer
Mistral Small 4

Mar 16, 2026

4 months 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 Opus 5 is available from Anthropic. Mistral Small 4 is available from Mistral AI.

Claude Opus 5

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

Mistral Small 4

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput 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 (1,000,000 tokens)
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 5
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 4
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 5
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 5 vs Mistral Small 4.

Which is better, Claude Opus 5 or Mistral Small 4?

Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) and Mistral Small 4 (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 Opus 5 compare to Mistral Small 4 in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 5 scores BrowseComp: 90.8%, BioMysteryBench: 90.1%, OSWorld 2.0: 70.6%, DeepSWE 1.1: 68.8%, Humanity's Last Exam: 64.7%. Mistral Small 4 scores AIME 2025: 83.8%, MMLU-Pro: 78.0%, AA-LCR: 71.2%, GPQA: 71.2%, LiveCodeBench: 63.6%.

Is Claude Opus 5 cheaper than Mistral Small 4?

Mistral Small 4 is 33.3x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 5 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4?

Claude Opus 5 supports 1.0M tokens and Mistral Small 4 supports 256K 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 5 and Mistral Small 4?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 256K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.15/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 5 and Mistral Small 4?

Claude Opus 5 is developed by Anthropic and Mistral Small 4 is developed by Mistral AI.

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