Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Nova LiteWhich is better in 2026?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Nova Lite — which is better?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Nova Lite (by Amazon) 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 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU, MMMU), while Nova Lite is better at 1 benchmark (MATH). Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Nova Lite if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.06/M input and $0.24/M output

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU, MMMU), while Nova Lite is better at 1 benchmark (MATH).

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Jul 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nova Lite specifies input context (300,000 tokens). Only Nova Lite specifies output context (2,048 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Amazon
Nova Lite
Input300,000 tokens
Output2,048 tokens
Wed Jul 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Nova Lite support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nova Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Nova Lite uses a proprietary license.

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

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Nova Lite

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is 4 months newer than Nova Lite.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

3mo newer
Nova Lite

Nov 20, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (46.0% vs 42.0%)
Higher HumanEval score (88.4% vs 85.4%)
Higher MMLU score (80.6% vs 80.5%)
Higher MMMU score (59.3% vs 56.2%)
Amazon
Larger context window (300,000 tokens)
Higher MATH score (73.3% vs 69.3%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Nova Lite
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Amazon
Nova Lite

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Nova Lite.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct or Nova Lite?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Nova Lite is made by Amazon. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct compare to Nova Lite in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%. Nova Lite scores GSM8k: 94.5%, ARC-C: 92.4%, DocVQA: 92.4%, IFEval: 89.7%, Translation en→Set1 COMET22: 88.8%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Nova Lite?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct supports an unknown number of tokens and Nova Lite supports 300K 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 3.1 24B Instruct and Nova Lite?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Nova Lite?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Nova Lite is developed by Amazon.

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