ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Magistral Small 1.2 vs Mistral Medium 3

Too close to call on our weighted score (Magistral Small 1.2 53, Mistral Medium 3 53). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Mistral AI

    Magistral Small 1.2

    Released Sep 18, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI131.4
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Magistral Small 1.2

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3

    Released May 7, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI134.1
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Magistral Small 1.2 53/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Medium 3 for raw capability and Magistral Small 1.2 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Medium 3Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3 134.1 · Magistral Small 1.2 131.4
  • Lowest priceMagistral Small 1.2Magistral Small 1.2 $0.75 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMagistral Small 1.2 131,072 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMagistral Small 1.2: Text, Images · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMagistral Small 1.2Publishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMagistral Small 1.2Mistral Medium 3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5558
Price25%5654
Inputs & features15%6050
Context window10%2424
Overall100%53/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Magistral Small 1.2 vs Mistral Medium 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationMagistral Small 1.2Mistral AIMistral Medium 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.4134.1 (best)
ECI rank#124 of 148#117 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.6%59.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics28.1%32.2% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.40 (best)
Output$1.50 (best)$2.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.75 (best)$0.80
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Proprietary
API model ID—mistral-medium-2505
API providers15 (best)
ReleasedSep 18, 2025May 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—May 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.

  • Magistral Small 1.2$8.00
  • Mistral Medium 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Magistral Small 1.2 or Mistral Medium 3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Magistral Small 1.2 53/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Medium 3 for raw capability and Magistral Small 1.2 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Magistral Small 1.2 or Mistral Medium 3?

Magistral Small 1.2 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Magistral Small 1.2 versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Medium 3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148) and Magistral Small 1.2 131.4 (#124 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.5–135.6 vs 126.5–133.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Medium 3 59.5%, Magistral Small 1.2 47.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Medium 3 32.2%, Magistral Small 1.2 28.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Magistral Small 1.2 and Mistral Medium 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Medium 3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Magistral Small 1.2 and Mistral Medium 3 share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Magistral Small 1.2 up to 131,072, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Magistral Small 1.2 accepts text and images; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Magistral Small 1.2 publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Mistral Medium 3 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Magistral Small 1.2 is the newest, released Sep 18, 2025. Mistral Medium 3 came out May 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Medium 3 May 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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