Model Comparison
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is 1.1x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 235B A22B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 4 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GPQA, MATH, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 235B A22B also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 4 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GPQA, MATH, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3 235B A22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.07/1M tokens) is 1.4x cheaper than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct ($0.14/1M tokens) is 1.4x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 235B A22B is more expensive than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 235B A22B has 211.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct, making it 879.2% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 235B A22B accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's 32,000 tokens. Qwen3 235B A22B can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is limited to 32,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 3 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.
Jan 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
2mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Qwen3 235B A22B'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 Qwen3 235B A22B's cutoff date.
Oct 2023
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Provider Availability
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Mistral AI. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
View detailsMistral AI
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Qwen3 235B A22B.