ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4o mini vs Mixtral 8x22B vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4o mini 56, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55, Mixtral 8x22B 33). 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
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  2. Mistral AI

    Mixtral 8x22B

    Released Apr 17, 2024

    33/100
    • ECI122.0
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context64K
    Full specs Remove Mixtral 8x22B

  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

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, Mixtral 8x22B 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.1 24B for raw capability and GPT-4o mini on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.1 24BCapabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · GPT-4o mini 126.6 · Mixtral 8x22B 122.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini $0.263 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Mixtral 8x22B $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4o mini and Mistral Small 3.1 24BGPT-4o mini 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 · Mixtral 8x22B 64,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Mixtral 8x22B: Text · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMixtral 8x22B and Mistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4o miniMixtral 8x22BMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%494350
Price25%772776
Inputs & features15%702560
Context window10%241224
Overall100%56/10033/10055/100
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 Mixtral 8x22B vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4o miniOpenAIMixtral 8x22BMistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)126.6122.0127.5 (best)
ECI rank#135 of 148#139 of 148#132 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions37.7%34.1%47.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics0.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.9% (best)—5.8%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions8.3%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$2.00$0.229
Output$0.60$6.00$0.436 (best)
Cached input$0.075——
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$3.00$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)64,000 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens64,000 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgpt-4o-miniopen-mixtral-8x22b—
API providers21 (best)12
ReleasedJul 18, 2024Apr 17, 2024Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2023Apr 2024Jun 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
  • Mixtral 8x22B$32.00
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4o mini, Mixtral 8x22B 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, Mixtral 8x22B 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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, Mixtral 8x22B 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); Mixtral 8x22B costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $3.00 for Mixtral 8x22B (11× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148), GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148) and Mixtral 8x22B 122.0 (#139 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (122.6–129.4 vs 120.5–128.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, GPT-4o mini 37.7%, Mixtral 8x22B 34.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o mini, Mixtral 8x22B and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B have the largest context windows (128,000 and 128,000 tokens), against 64,000 for Mixtral 8x22B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Mixtral 8x22B up to 64,000, 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; Mixtral 8x22B accepts text; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. GPT-4o mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mixtral 8x22B and Mistral Small 3.1 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o mini 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; Mixtral 8x22B came out Apr 17, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o mini Sep 2023, Mixtral 8x22B Apr 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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