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Mercury 3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to -0.1. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is 1.1x cheaper per token.

Inception · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to -0.1, ranking #98 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mercury 3 wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Mercury 3 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Mercury 3

  • overall performance matters — it scores 36.1 and ranks #98 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

  • cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Mercury 3
Inception
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
36.1
#98
-0.1
#351
Reasoning
34.8
#103
0.1
#342
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
$0.10 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$0.35 / M
$0.30 / M
Context window
1,000,000
128,000

Individual benchmarks

12 reported for Mercury 3 · 5 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

1 shared

Mercury 3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is better at 0 benchmarks.

Mercury 3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base costs less

For input processing, Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens) costs the same as Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens) is 1.2x more expensive than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base ($0.30/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Mercury 3 is more expensive than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com
Inception
Mercury 3
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.35
Best providerInception
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.30
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Mercury 3 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base's 128,000 tokens. Mercury 3 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Inception
Mercury 3
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 3 does not.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Mercury 3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mercury 3 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.

Mercury 3

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base was released on 2025-03-17.

Mercury 3 is 19 months newer than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.

Mercury 3

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

1.6yr newer
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

Mar 17, 2025

1.6 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

Provider Availability

Mercury 3 is available from Inception. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is available from Mistral AI.

Mercury 3

inception logo
Inception
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.35/1M

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base

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?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mercury 3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mercury 3
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Mercury 3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base.

Which is better, Mercury 3 or Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base?

Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to -0.1. Mercury 3 is made by Inception and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Mercury 3 compare to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base in benchmarks?

Mercury 3 scores GPQA: 89.2%, AA-LCR: 77.7%, IFBench: 76.8%, MRCR v2: 75.5%, DeepSearchQA: 71.3%. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base scores MMLU: 81.0%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MMMU: 59.3%, MMLU-Pro: 56.0%, GPQA: 37.5%.

Is Mercury 3 cheaper than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base?

Both models cost $0.10 per million input tokens.

What are the context window sizes for Mercury 3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base?

Mercury 3 supports 1.0M tokens and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Mercury 3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (36.1 vs -0.1), context window (1.0M vs 128K), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mercury 3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base?

Mercury 3 is developed by Inception and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Base is developed by Mistral AI.

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