GPT-4.1 mini vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62, GPT-4.1 mini 60, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55). The right pick depends on what you value most.
OpenAIGPT-4.1 mini
60/100- ECI135.0
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1.05M
MetaLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct
62/100- ECI129.7
- Price$0.225 / $0.69
- Context10M
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24B
55/100- ECI127.5
- Price$0.229 / $0.436
- Context128K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62/100, GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4.1 mini for raw capability, Mistral Small 3.1 24B on price and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct for long inputs. 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 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5
- Lowest priceMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · GPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GPT-4.1 mini | Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct | Mistral Small 3.1 24B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 59 | 52 | 50 |
| Price | 25% | 57 | 72 | 76 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 50 | 60 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 100 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 60/100 | 62/100 | 55/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI | Llama 4 Scout 17B InstructMeta | Mistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 135.0 (best) | 129.7 | 127.5 |
| ECI rank | #115 of 148 (best) | #126 of 148 | #132 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 65.9% (best) | 51.8% | 47.5% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 6.7% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 44.7% (best) | 7.8% | 5.8% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 12.7% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 | $0.225 (best) | $0.229 |
| Output | $1.60 | $0.69 | $0.436 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.10 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.70 | $0.341 | $0.281 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Median of 4 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,047,576 tokens | 10,000,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | gpt-4.1-mini | — | — |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 4 | 2 |
| Released | Apr 14, 2025 | Apr 5, 2025 | Mar 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Aug 2024 | Jun 2024 |
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
- Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
- Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62/100, GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4.1 mini for raw capability, Mistral Small 3.1 24B on price and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?
Mistral Small 3.1 24B is cheaper at $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 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 $0.281 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.1 24B versus $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.2× as much) and $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (2.5× 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), Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (131.2–136.6 vs 124.8–131.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%, 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, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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?
Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 1,047,576 for GPT-4.1 mini and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; 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?
Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025; Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, 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.
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