Gemma 3 4B IT vs Mistral Small 3.2 vs Ministral 3B
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.
GoogleGemma 3 4B IT
53/100- ECI116.1
- Price$0.05 / $0.10
- Context131K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2
60/100- ECI131.7
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context128K
- Mistral AI
Ministral 3B
49/100- ECI118.1
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context128K
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 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 · Ministral 3B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemma 3 4B IT and Mistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 4B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · Ministral 3B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 3 4B IT | Mistral Small 3.2 | Ministral 3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 35 | 55 | 38 |
| Price | 25% | 100 | 89 | 97 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 50 | 50 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 60/100 | 49/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle | Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI | Ministral 3BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 116.1 | 131.7 (best) | 118.1 |
| ECI rank | #146 of 148 | #123 of 148 (best) | #144 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 23.2% | 49.1% (best) | 25.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 7.5% | 30.3% (best) | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.05 (best) | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $0.30 | $0.10 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.063 (best) | $0.15 | $0.10 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 7 providers | Official Mistral API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | mistral-small-2506 | — |
| API providers | 7 (best) | 6 | 1 |
| Released | Mar 12, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 | Oct 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 2024 | Mar 2025 | Mar 2024 |
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
- Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
- Ministral 3B$1.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 3 4B IT, Mistral Small 3.2 or Ministral 3B?
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, Mistral Small 3.2 or Ministral 3B?
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, Mistral Small 3.2 and Ministral 3B 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 Mistral Small 3.2 and 128,000 for Ministral 3B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 4B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384, Ministral 3B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 3 4B IT accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images; Ministral 3B accepts text. 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, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, Ministral 3B Mar 2024.
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.
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