ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Hy3 preview vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 64 and 56 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Tencent

    Hy3 preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.176 / $0.586
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Hy3 preview
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    85/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 4

    Released Mar 16, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 4
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 4 (64) and Hy3 preview (56). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Mistral Small 4 $0.263 · Hy3 preview $0.279 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Hy3 preview 256,000 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteHy3 preview: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingHy3 preview and Mistral Small 4Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightHy3 previewGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 4
Price50%768677
Inputs & features30%3510060
Context window20%366136
Overall100%56/10085/10064/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Hy3 preview vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationHy3 previewTencentGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleMistral Small 4Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—133.9—
ECI rank—#118 of 148—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.176$0.10 (best)$0.15
Output$0.586$0.40 (best)$0.60
Cached input—$0.01 (best)$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.279$0.175 (best)$0.263
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersOfficial Google APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window256,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output64,000 tokens65,536 tokens256,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYesYeshigh
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model IDhy3-previewgemini-2.5-flash-litemistral-small-2603
API providers520 (best)16
ReleasedApr 20, 2026Jun 17, 2025Mar 16, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025Jun 2025
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.

  • Hy3 preview$2.93
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Mistral Small 4$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Hy3 preview, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 4 (64) and Hy3 preview (56). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Hy3 preview, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 4?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Hy3 preview costs $0.176 input / $0.586 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers; free on Tencent TokenHub). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.263 for Mistral Small 4 (1.5× as much) and $0.279 for Hy3 preview (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hy3 preview has not been scored yet, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9 and Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hy3 preview, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Mistral Small 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 256,000 for Hy3 preview and 256,000 for Mistral Small 4. Maximum output per response: Hy3 preview up to 64,000, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Hy3 preview accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Hy3 preview and Mistral Small 4 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Hy3 preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Mistral Small 4 came out Mar 16, 2026; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 4 Jun 2025.

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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