GPT-5.4 nano vs MiniMax-M2.5 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

GPT-5.4 nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against MiniMax-M2.5 (61) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mistral Small 3.1 24B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is cheaper at $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). GPT-5.4 nano costs $0.20 input / $1.25 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); MiniMax-M2.5 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) 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 $0.463 for GPT-5.4 nano (1.6× as much) and $0.525 for MiniMax-M2.5 (1.9× as much).

MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 (#66 of 148), GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 (#75 of 148) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (142.3–147.9 vs 143.2–147.7), so treat the gap as small.

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 nano, MiniMax-M2.5 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M2.5 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

GPT-5.4 nano has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5 and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000, MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

GPT-5.4 nano accepts text and images; MiniMax-M2.5 accepts text; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. GPT-5.4 nano handles the widest range of inputs.

MiniMax-M2.5 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 nano is proprietary.

GPT-5.4 nano is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. MiniMax-M2.5 came out Feb 12, 2026; Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 nano Aug 31, 2025, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 2024.

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.