ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    85/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 4

    Released Mar 16, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 4

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 4 (64). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Mistral Small 4 $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 4Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 4
Price50%8677
Inputs & features30%10060
Context window20%6136
Overall100%85/10064/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleMistral Small 4Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9—
ECI rank#118 of 148—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.15
Output$0.40 (best)$0.60
Cached input$0.01 (best)$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.175 (best)$0.263
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens256,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeshigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-litemistral-small-2603
API providers20 (best)16
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Mar 16, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Jun 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Mistral Small 4$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 4 (64). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.263 for Mistral Small 4 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9 and Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Mistral Small 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 256,000 for Mistral Small 4. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Small 4 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 4 is the newest, released Mar 16, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 4 Jun 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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