Model Comparison
Mistral Small vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)Which is better in 2026?
Comparing Mistral Small and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Verdict: Mistral Small vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) — which is better?
Mistral Small (by Mistral AI) and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) (by NVIDIA) 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.
On price, Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is roughly 2.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Mistral Small if…
- you want predictable pricing at $0.20/M input and $0.60/M output
Choose Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) if…
- cost matters — it's about 2.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mistral Small and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Small ($0.20/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Small ($0.60/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Small is more expensive than Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B).*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) has 10.0B more parameters than Mistral Small, making it 45.5% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Mistral Small's 32,768 tokens. Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Mistral Small is limited to 32,768 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Small is licensed under Mistral Research License, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) uses NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement .
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Mistral Research License
Open weights
NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Small was released on 2024-09-17, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) was released on 2025-12-15.
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is 15 months newer than Mistral Small.
Sep 17, 2024
1.7 years ago
Dec 15, 2025
5 months ago
1.2yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-11-28, while Mistral Small's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)'s training data extends to 2025-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Small's cutoff date.
—
Nov 2025
Provider Availability
Mistral Small is available from Mistral AI. Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is available from DeepInfra.
Mistral Small
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mistral Small
View detailsMistral AI
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B).