ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT-4o mini vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 60 to 56 and 55 on our weighted score, though GPT-4o mini is 2.7× cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.229 / $0.436
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.1 24B
01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against GPT-4o mini (56) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4.1 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · GPT-4o mini 126.6
  • Lowest priceGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini $0.263 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 mini and GPT-4o miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · GPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4o miniMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%594950
Price25%577776
Inputs & features15%707060
Context window10%612424
Overall100%60/10056/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT-4o mini vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIGPT-4o miniOpenAIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0 (best)126.6127.5
ECI rank#115 of 148 (best)#135 of 148#132 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9% (best)37.7%47.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7% (best)0.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7% (best)6.9%5.8%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7% (best)8.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.15 (best)$0.229
Output$1.60$0.60$0.436 (best)
Cached input$0.10$0.075 (best)—
Blended (3:1)$0.70$0.263 (best)$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-minigpt-4o-mini—
API providers24 (best)212
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Jul 18, 2024Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Sep 2023Jun 2024
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.

  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • GPT-4o mini$2.70
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-4o mini or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against GPT-4o mini (56) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-4o mini or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for GPT-4o mini versus $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (1.1× as much) and $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (2.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4.1 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148), Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148) and GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (131.2–136.6 vs 122.6–129.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, GPT-4o mini 37.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%, GPT-4o mini 6.9%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-4o mini and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4.1 mini 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?

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o mini and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini and GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025; GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, GPT-4o mini Sep 2023, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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