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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B vs Mistral Small 3.2

Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65, Mistral Small 3.2 64). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. NVIDIA

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B

    Released Apr 7, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • PriceFree / Free
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    64/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Mistral Small 3.2 64/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price. 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 priceLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B Free · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.2Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B: Text · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BMistral Small 3.2
Price50%10089
Inputs & features30%3550
Context window20%2424
Overall100%65/10064/100

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.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BNVIDIAMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—131.7
ECI rank—#123 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—49.1%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—30.3%
Price per million tokens
InputFree (best)$0.10
OutputFree (best)$0.30
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)Free (best)$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Nvidia APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDnvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1mistral-small-2506
API providers16 (best)
ReleasedApr 7, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 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.

  • Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BFree
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Mistral Small 3.2?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Mistral Small 3.2 64/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price. 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, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Mistral Small 3.2?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is listed as free.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B has not been scored yet and Mistral Small 3.2 has an ECI of 131.7.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Mistral Small 3.2 share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B up to 8,192, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B accepts text; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Mistral Small 3.2 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B came out Apr 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 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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