Model Comparison

Kimi K3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct — which is better?

Kimi K3 (by Moonshot AI) and Mistral Small 3.1 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.

Kimi K3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K3 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Kimi K3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2776.0B diff

Kimi K3 has 2776.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct, making it 11566.7% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
2.8Tparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
2800.0B
Kimi K3
24.0B
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K3 specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens). Only Kimi K3 specifies output context (1,048,576 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output1,048,576 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Kimi K3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Kimi K3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K3 was released on 2026-07-16, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17.

Kimi K3 is 16 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.

Kimi K3

Jul 16, 2026

2 days ago

1.3yr newer
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.3 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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Moonshot AI
Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (93.5% vs 46.0%)
Mistral AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K3
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.

Which is better, Kimi K3 or Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K3 is made by Moonshot AI and Mistral Small 3.1 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 Kimi K3 compare to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

Kimi K3 scores MathVision: 97.8%, DeepSearchQA: 95.0%, GPQA: 93.5%, CharXiv-R: 91.3%, BrowseComp: 91.2%. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Kimi K3 supports 1.0M tokens and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Kimi K3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Unknown vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Kimi K3 is developed by Moonshot AI and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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