ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

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

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4o mini 56, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55, GPT-4o 43). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
  2. OpenAI

    GPT-4o

    Released May 13, 2024

    43/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$2.50 / $10.00
    • Context128K
  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.229 / $0.436
    • Context128K
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (GPT-4o mini 56/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100, GPT-4o 43/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4o for raw capability and GPT-4o mini on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4oCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o 129.0 · 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-4o $4.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameGPT-4o mini 128,000 · GPT-4o 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o mini and GPT-4oGPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · GPT-4o: Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4o miniGPT-4oMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%495250
Price25%771976
Inputs & features15%707060
Context window10%242424
Overall100%56/10043/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4o mini vs GPT-4o vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4o miniOpenAIGPT-4oOpenAIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)126.6129.0 (best)127.5
ECI rank#135 of 148#129 of 148 (best)#132 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions37.7%48.9% (best)47.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics0.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.9% (best)6.3%5.8%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions8.3%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$2.50$0.229
Output$0.60$10.00$0.436 (best)
Cached input$0.075 (best)$1.25—
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$4.38$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4o-minigpt-4o—
API providers21 (best)192
ReleasedJul 18, 2024May 13, 2024Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2023Sep 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-4o mini$2.70
  • GPT-4o$45.00
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (GPT-4o mini 56/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100, GPT-4o 43/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4o for raw capability and GPT-4o mini on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o 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-4o costs $2.50 input / $10.00 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 $4.38 for GPT-4o (17× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4o scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o 129.0 (#129 of 148), Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148) and GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.2–131.5 vs 122.6–129.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4o 48.9%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, GPT-4o mini 37.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4o mini 6.9%, GPT-4o 6.3%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4o 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-4o mini, GPT-4o and Mistral Small 3.1 24B share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, GPT-4o up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; GPT-4o accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. GPT-4o 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-4o mini and GPT-4o is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024; GPT-4o came out May 13, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o mini Sep 2023, GPT-4o 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.