Mistral Small 3.2 vs Mistral Small 4 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 64 and 64 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 is 14% cheaper per token.
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2
64/100- ECI131.7
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context128K
- Mistral AI
Mistral Small 4
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context256K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
85/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
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 3.2 (64) and Mistral Small 4 (64). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mistral Small 3.2 wins 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 priceMistral Small 3.2Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Mistral Small 4 $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 and Mistral Small 4Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mistral Small 3.2 | Mistral Small 4 | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 77 | 86 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 60 | 100 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 36 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 64/100 | 64/100 | 85/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI | Mistral Small 4Mistral AI | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 131.7 | — | 133.9 (best) |
| ECI rank | #123 of 148 | — | #118 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 49.1% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 30.3% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.15 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $0.30 (best) | $0.60 | $0.40 |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | $0.01 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $0.263 | $0.175 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Mistral API | Official Google API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yeshigh | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | mistral-small-2506 | mistral-small-2603 | gemini-2.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 6 | 16 | 20 (best) |
| Released | Jun 20, 2025 | Mar 16, 2026 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2025 | Jun 2025 | Jan 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
- Mistral Small 4$2.70
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mistral Small 3.2, Mistral Small 4 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (64) and Mistral Small 4 (64). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mistral Small 3.2 wins 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, Mistral Small 3.2, Mistral Small 4 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× as much) and $0.263 for Mistral Small 4 (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mistral Small 3.2 has an ECI of 131.7, Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.2, Mistral Small 4 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 Mistral Small 4 and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral Small 3.2 and Mistral Small 4 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mistral Small 4 is the newest, released Mar 16, 2026. Mistral Small 3.2 came out Jun 20, 2025; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, Mistral Small 4 Jun 2025, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 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.
