Grok 4.6 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Comparing Grok 4.6 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
xAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Grok 4.6 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is roughly 20.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Grok 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (500,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Grok 4.6
- you process long inputs — it offers a 500,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
- cost matters — it's about 20.0x cheaper per token
- 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
Grok 4.6 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Basedon'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, Grok 4.6 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok 4.6 ($6.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base ($0.30/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Grok 4.6 is more expensive than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Grok 4.6 accepts 500,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base's 128,000 tokens. Only Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Grok 4.6 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Grok 4.6
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base 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
Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base was released on 2025-03-17.
Grok 4.6 is 17 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.
Aug 12, 2026
1 weeks ago
1.4yr newerMar 17, 2025
1.4 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Grok 4.6 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-02-01, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Grok 4.6's training data extends to 2026-02-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base's cutoff date.
Feb 2026
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Provider Availability
Grok 4.6 is available from xAI. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is available from Mistral AI.
Grok 4.6
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Grok 4.6 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Grok 4.6 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.