MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed vs Mistral Small 4 vs Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B
Mistral Small 4 comes out ahead, 50 to 35 and 34 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.7-highspeed
34/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $2.40
- Context205K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMistral Small 4
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context256K
NVIDIANemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B
35/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context256K
Mistral Small 4 is our pick
Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B (35) and MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed (34). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 priceMistral Small 4Mistral Small 4 $0.263 · MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed $1.05 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B unpriced
- Longest contextMistral Small 4 and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3BMistral Small 4 256,000 · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 256,000 · MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsMistral Small 4MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed: Text · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images · Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed | Mistral Small 4 | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 35 | 60 | 35 |
| Context window | 40% | 32 | 36 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 34/100 | 50/100 | 35/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | MiniMax-M2.7-highspeedMiniMax | Mistral Small 4Mistral AI | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.60 | $0.15 (best) | — |
| Output | $2.40 | $0.60 (best) | — |
| Cached input | $0.06 | $0.015 (best) | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.05 | $0.263 (best) | — |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | — |
| Price source | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Mistral API | — |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 204,800 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeshigh | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed | mistral-small-2603 | — |
| API providers | 14 | 16 (best) | — |
| Released | Mar 18, 2026 | Mar 16, 2026 | Mar 24, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jun 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed$10.80
- Mistral Small 4$2.70
- Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed, Mistral Small 4 or Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B?
Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B (35) and MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed (34). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed, Mistral Small 4 or Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed costs $0.60 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for Mistral Small 4 versus $1.05 for MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed (4× as much). Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed has not been scored yet, Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed, Mistral Small 4 and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B 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?
Mistral Small 4 and Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B have the largest context windows (256,000 and 256,000 tokens), against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed up to 131,072, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed accepts text; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images; Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B accepts text. Mistral Small 4 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B is the newest, released Mar 24, 2026. MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed came out Mar 18, 2026; Mistral Small 4 came out Mar 16, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
