Model Comparison

Mistral Small vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Mistral Small and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Mistral Small vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct — which is better?

Mistral Small (by Mistral AI) and Mistral Small 3.2 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.

Choose Mistral Small if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.20/M input and $0.60/M output

Choose Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Mistral Small and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1.6B diff

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct has 1.6B more parameters than Mistral Small, making it 7.3% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small
22.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct
23.6Bparameters
22.0B
Mistral Small
23.6B
Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only Mistral Small specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral Small does not.

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Mistral Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small is licensed under Mistral Research License, while Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Mistral Small

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17, while Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct was released on 2025-06-20.

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct is 9 months newer than Mistral Small.

Mistral Small

Sep 17, 2024

1.9 years ago

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

Jun 20, 2025

1.1 years ago

9mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Mistral Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Small's cutoff date.

Mistral Small

—

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Larger context window (32,768 tokens)
Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small
✓ Preferred
Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct.

Which is better, Mistral Small or Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct?

Mistral Small (Mistral AI) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct (Mistral AI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Mistral Small compare to Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct scores DocVQA: 94.9%, AI2D: 92.9%, HumanEval Plus: 92.9%, ChartQA: 87.4%, IF: 84.8%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct?

Mistral Small supports 33K tokens and Mistral Small 3.2 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 Mistral Small and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Mistral Research License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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