Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs o1-preview
o1-preview significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 300.0x cheaper per token.
Mistral AI · OpenAI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o1-preview is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH). o1-preview significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 300.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
o1-preview also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 300.0x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose o1-preview
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o1-preview is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH).
o1-preview significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.07/1M tokens) is 214.3x cheaper than o1-preview ($15.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.14/1M tokens) is 428.6x cheaper than o1-preview ($60.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o1-preview is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
o1-preview accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,000 tokens. o1-preview can generate longer responses up to 32,768 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while o1-preview uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30, while o1-preview was released on 2024-09-12.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 5 months newer than o1-preview.
Jan 30, 2025
1.6 years ago
4mo newerSep 12, 2024
2.0 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while o1-preview's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without o1-preview's cutoff date.
Oct 2023
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Provider Availability
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI. o1-preview is available from OpenAI, Azure.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
o1-preview
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and o1-preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs o1-preview.