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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3.5 9B Base

Mistral Small 4 comes out ahead, 65 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 4

    Released Mar 16, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 4

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 9B Base

    Released Feb 26, 2026

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.807
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 9B Base

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 4 is our pick

Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Qwen3.5 9B Base (50). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 4Mistral Small 4 $0.263 · Qwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 9B BaseMistral Small 4: Text, Images · Qwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 4Qwen3.5 9B Base
Price50%7465
Inputs & features30%7035
Context window20%3637
Overall100%65/10050/100

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.

Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3.5 9B Base specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 4Mistral AIQwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.30
Output$0.60 (best)$0.807
Cached input$0.015—
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$0.427
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window256,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output256,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYeshighNo
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDmistral-small-2603—
API providers21 (best)1
ReleasedMar 16, 2026Feb 26, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJun 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.

  • Mistral Small 4$2.70
  • Qwen3.5 9B Base$4.61
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 4 or Qwen3.5 9B Base?

Mistral Small 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Qwen3.5 9B Base (50). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 4 or Qwen3.5 9B Base?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen3.5 9B Base costs $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for Mistral Small 4 versus $0.427 for Qwen3.5 9B Base (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3.5 9B Base yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.5 9B Base has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Mistral Small 4. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000, Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images; Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.5 9B Base handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 4 is the newest, released Mar 16, 2026. Qwen3.5 9B Base came out Feb 26, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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