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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Mistral Small 4

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

  1. 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
  2. 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

  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 BaseQwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9B BaseMistral Small 4
Price50%6574
Inputs & features30%3570
Context window20%3736
Overall100%50/10065/100

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.

Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Mistral Small 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)Mistral Small 4Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.15 (best)
Output$0.807$0.60 (best)
Cached input—$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.427$0.263 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens256,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningNoYeshigh
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID—mistral-small-2603
API providers121 (best)
ReleasedFeb 26, 2026Mar 16, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jun 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.

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

Which should you choose?

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

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, Qwen3.5 9B Base or Mistral Small 4?

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. Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet and Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B Base and Mistral Small 4 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: Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images. 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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