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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemma 3 4B IT vs Ministral 3B vs Mistral Small 3.2

Mistral Small 3.2 comes out ahead, 60 to 53 and 49 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 4B IT is 2.4× cheaper per token.

  1. Google

    Gemma 3 4B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI116.1
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 4B IT

  2. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3B

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI118.1
    • Price$0.10 / $0.10
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3B
  3. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2
01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 3.2 is our pick

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Gemma 3 4B IT (53) and Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability. Gemma 3 4B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.2Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Ministral 3B 118.1 · Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 4B IT $0.063 · Ministral 3B $0.10 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 4B IT 131,072 · Ministral 3B 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 4B IT and Mistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 4B IT: Text, Images · Ministral 3B: Text · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 3 4B ITMinistral 3BMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%353855
Price25%1009789
Inputs & features15%502550
Context window10%242424
Overall100%53/10049/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemma 3 4B IT vs Ministral 3B vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 3 4B ITGoogleMinistral 3BMistral AIMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.1118.1131.7 (best)
ECI rank#146 of 148#144 of 148#123 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions23.2%25.3%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.5%—30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.10$0.10
Output$0.10 (best)$0.10 (best)$0.30
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.063 (best)$0.10$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 7 providersMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)8,192 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID——mistral-small-2506
API providers7 (best)16
ReleasedMar 12, 2025Oct 16, 2024Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Mar 2024Mar 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.

  • Gemma 3 4B IT$0.70
  • Ministral 3B$1.20
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 3 4B IT, Ministral 3B or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Gemma 3 4B IT (53) and Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability. Gemma 3 4B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B IT, Ministral 3B or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemma 3 4B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ministral 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Gemma 3 4B IT versus $0.10 for Ministral 3B (1.6× as much) and $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (2.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148), Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148) and Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1 (#146 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (126.6–133.9 vs 107.4–121.8), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Ministral 3B 25.3%, Gemma 3 4B IT 23.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 4B IT, Ministral 3B and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.2 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemma 3 4B IT has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Ministral 3B and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 4B IT up to 131,072, Ministral 3B up to 8,192, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 3 4B IT accepts text and images; Ministral 3B accepts text; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Gemma 3 4B IT handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemma 3 4B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Ministral 3B came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 4B IT Aug 2024, Ministral 3B Mar 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 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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