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AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

GPT-5.4 Nano vs Mistral Small 4

OpenAI 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

OpenAI

GPT-5.4 Nano

Budget

vs

Mistral

Mistral Small 4

Budget · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationGPT-5.4 NanoMistral Small 4
ProviderOpenAIMistral
TierBudgetBudget
Context windowWinner: 400K262K
Max output128KNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokens$0.20Winner: $0.15
Output / 1M tokens$1.25Winner: $0.60
WeightsClosedOpen
ParametersNot disclosedUnverified119B total / 6.5B active (MoE)
Reasoning levelsnone, low, medium, high, xhighNot verifiedUnverified
Modalitiestext, imagetext, image
LicenseNot disclosedUnverifiedApache 2.0
API model idgpt-5.4-nanomistral-small-2603
ReleasedMarch 17, 2026March 16, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [xhigh] (2026-09-26)20.7Not verifiedUnverified
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)Not verifiedUnverified11.3

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

GPT-5.4 Nano: Standard $0.20/$1.25 per MTok; cached input $0.02/MTok; batch $0.10/$0.625.

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

GPT-5.4 Nano

GPT-5.4 Nano is OpenAI's small classification and extraction tier at $0.20/$1.25 — no longer its cheapest model (GPT-6 Luna lists $0.10/$0.50).

Best for

  • Classification
  • Summarisation
  • High-volume chat

Watch out

Smallest tier; not for hard reasoning or coding.

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 $1.25 for GPT-5.4 Nano — about 2.1×. 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.

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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.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? GPT-5.4 Nano · Mistral Small 4

Common questions

GPT-5.4 Nano vs Mistral Small 4

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

Is GPT-5.4 Nano or Mistral Small 4 cheaper for input?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.15 per million input tokens, against $0.20 for GPT-5.4 Nano — roughly 1.3× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GPT-5.4 Nano has tiered pricing: Standard $0.20/$1.25 per MTok; cached input $0.02/MTok; batch $0.10/$0.625. 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 GPT-5.4 Nano or Mistral Small 4 cheaper for output?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.60 per million output tokens, against $1.25 for GPT-5.4 Nano — roughly 2.1× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GPT-5.4 Nano has tiered pricing: Standard $0.20/$1.25 per MTok; cached input $0.02/MTok; batch $0.10/$0.625. 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, GPT-5.4 Nano or Mistral Small 4?
GPT-5.4 Nano accepts 400K tokens against 262K for Mistral Small 4. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use GPT-5.4 Nano or Mistral Small 4?
Both sit in the budget tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. GPT-5.4 Nano suits classification; Mistral Small 4 suits cheap eu-hosted inference.
Can I self-host GPT-5.4 Nano 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. GPT-5.4 Nano 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 $0.20 for GPT-5.4 Nano — a 1.3x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: GPT-5.4 Nano takes 400K 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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