MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Mistral Small
Comparing MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Small across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
MiniMax · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Small trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 MiniMax M3.1 Flash
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
- 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
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for MiniMax M3.1 Flash · 0 for Mistral Small
MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Smalldon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens) is 1.3x cheaper than Mistral Small ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens) costs the same as Mistral Small ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Small is more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
MiniMax M3.1 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small's 32,768 tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Mistral Small is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
MiniMax M3.1 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small does not.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Mistral Small
License
Usage and distribution terms
MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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
MiniMax M3.1 Flash was released on 2026-10-19, while Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 25 months newer than Mistral Small.
Oct 19, 2026
0 days ago
2.1yr newerSep 17, 2024
2.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is available from MiniMax. Mistral Small is available from Mistral AI.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Mistral Small
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Mistral Small.