Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4

Google against Mistral, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

Google

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

Budget

Mistral

Mistral Small 4

Budget · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
Specification	Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite	Mistral Small 4
Provider
Provider	Google	Mistral
Tier
Tier	Budget	Budget
Context window
Context window	Winner: 1.05M	262K
Max output
Max output	66K	Not verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokens
Input / 1M tokens	$0.25	Winner: $0.15
Output / 1M tokens
Output / 1M tokens	$1.50	Winner: $0.60
Weights
Weights	Closed	Open
Parameters
Parameters	Not disclosedUnverified	119B total / 6.5B active (MoE)
Reasoning levels
Reasoning levels	Not verifiedUnverified	Not verifiedUnverified
Modalities
Modalities	text, image, video, audio, pdf	text, image
License
License	Not disclosedUnverified	Apache 2.0
API model id
API model id	gemini-3.1-flash-lite	mistral-small-2603
Released
Released	May 7, 2026	March 16, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)	Winner: 15.6	11.3

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

2026-09-26
Artificial Analysis (Reasoning)
Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.
Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.

Pricing tiers

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07.

Mistral Small 4: Mistral first-party API $0.15/$0.60 per MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0). 119B total / 6.5B active MoE.

BudgetRecord checked September 26, 2026

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is Google's cheapest current Gemini API model for high-volume, latency-sensitive pipelines.

Best for

High-volume extraction
Classification
Cheap multimodal input

Watch out

Google recommends 3.5 Flash-Lite for new work, and 3.1 Flash-Lite's earliest shutdown date is 2027-05-07; well behind Flash models on reasoning.

BudgetOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

Mistral Small 4

Mistral Small 4 is Mistral's low-cost Apache-2.0 MoE — 6.5B active parameters with a 256K context and image input.

Best for

Cheap EU-hosted inference
Open-weight self-hosting
High-volume extraction

Watch out

Small active size: not for hard reasoning or agentic coding; max output is not published.

When the cheaper one wins

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on output at $0.60 per million tokens against $1.50 for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite — about 2.5×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

Run the model picker

Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
2/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, parameter count, reasoning levels.
1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API pricing (gemini-3.1-flash-lite $0.25/$1.50) (accessed 2026-09-26)
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API — gemini-3.1-flash-lite model card (accessed 2026-09-26)
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API deprecations (earliest shutdown 2027-05-07) (accessed 2026-09-26)
Mistral Small 4: Mistral docs — Mistral Small 4 (26.03) (accessed 2026-09-26)
Mistral Small 4: Mistral changelog (accessed 2026-09-26)

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite · Mistral Small 4

Common questions

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4 cheaper for input?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.15 per million input tokens, against $0.25 for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite — roughly 1.7× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has tiered pricing: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07. Mistral Small 4 has tiered pricing: Mistral first-party API $0.15/$0.60 per MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0). 119B total / 6.5B active MoE.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4 cheaper for output?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.60 per million output tokens, against $1.50 for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite — roughly 2.5× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has tiered pricing: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07. Mistral Small 4 has tiered pricing: Mistral first-party API $0.15/$0.60 per MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0). 119B total / 6.5B active MoE.

Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite accepts 1.05M tokens against 262K for Mistral Small 4. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.

Should I use Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Both sit in the budget tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite suits high-volume extraction; Mistral Small 4 suits cheap eu-hosted inference.

Can I self-host Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Mistral Small 4 publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is a closed model whose supported access paths are controlled by its provider.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

Input price: Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 per 1M tokens versus $0.25 for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite — a 1.7x difference at the headline tier.
Context: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite takes 1.05M against 262K for Mistral Small 4 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
Deployment: Mistral Small 4 publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.

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