ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

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

GPT-5.4 nano comes out ahead, 68 to 61 and 55 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.1 24B is 39% cheaper per token.

  1. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M2.5

    Released Feb 12, 2026

    61/100
    • ECI146.7
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context205K
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M2.5

  2. 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
  3. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 nano

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI145.8
    • Price$0.20 / $1.25
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 nano
01 — Verdict

GPT-5.4 nano is our pick

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%.

  • CapabilityMiniMax-M2.5Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 · GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · GPT-5.4 nano $0.463 · MiniMax-M2.5 $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 nanoGPT-5.4 nano 400,000 · MiniMax-M2.5 204,800 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.1 24B and GPT-5.4 nanoMiniMax-M2.5: Text · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images · GPT-5.4 nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMiniMax-M2.5 and Mistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniMax-M2.5Mistral Small 3.1 24BGPT-5.4 nano
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%745073
Price25%637666
Inputs & features15%356070
Context window10%322444
Overall100%61/10055/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

MiniMax-M2.5 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs GPT-5.4 nano specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniMax-M2.5MiniMaxMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AIGPT-5.4 nanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)146.7 (best)127.5145.8
ECI rank#66 of 148 (best)#132 of 148#75 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—47.5%78.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——44.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—5.8%87.8% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions——11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.229$0.20 (best)
Output$1.20$0.436 (best)$1.25
Cached input$0.03—$0.02 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.525$0.281 (best)$0.463
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) APIMedian of 2 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window204,800 tokens128,000 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesNoYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model IDMiniMax-M2.5—gpt-5.4-nano
API providers21226 (best)
ReleasedFeb 12, 2026Mar 17, 2025Mar 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jun 2024Aug 31, 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.

  • MiniMax-M2.5$5.40
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
  • GPT-5.4 nano$4.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniMax-M2.5, Mistral Small 3.1 24B or GPT-5.4 nano?

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%.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.5, Mistral Small 3.1 24B or GPT-5.4 nano?

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).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

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.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M2.5, Mistral Small 3.1 24B and GPT-5.4 nano 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.

Which has the bigger context window?

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: MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384, GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

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: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 2024, GPT-5.4 nano Aug 31, 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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