GPT-5 nano vs Mistral Small
Comparing GPT-5 nano and Mistral Small across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
OpenAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
GPT-5 nano and Mistral Small trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, GPT-5 nano is roughly 2.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GPT-5 nano also accepts a larger context window (400,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose GPT-5 nano
- cost matters — it's about 2.2x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 400,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025
Choose Mistral Small
- 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
GPT-5 nano and Mistral Smalldon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, GPT-5 nano ($0.05/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than Mistral Small ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-5 nano ($0.40/1M tokens) is 1.5x cheaper than Mistral Small ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Small is more expensive than GPT-5 nano.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
GPT-5 nano accepts 400,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small's 32,768 tokens. GPT-5 nano can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Mistral Small is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
GPT-5 nano supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small does not.
GPT-5 nano can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
GPT-5 nano
Mistral Small
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-5 nano 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.
Proprietary
Closed source
Mistral Research License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GPT-5 nano was released on 2025-08-07, while Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17.
GPT-5 nano is 11 months newer than Mistral Small.
Aug 7, 2025
1.0 years ago
10mo newerSep 17, 2024
1.9 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-5 nano has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-30, while Mistral Small's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-5 nano's training data extends to 2024-05-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Small's cutoff date.
May 2024
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Provider Availability
GPT-5 nano is available from OpenAI. Mistral Small is available from Mistral AI.
GPT-5 nano
Mistral Small
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-5 nano and Mistral Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about GPT-5 nano vs Mistral Small.