| Signal | Mistral Small 4 | Delta | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | +17 | |
Pricing | 99 | +2 | |
Context window size | 77 | +3 | |
Recency | 100 | +62 | |
Output Capacity | 20 | -50 | |
Benchmarks | 0 | -73 | |
| Overall Result | 4 wins | of 6 | 2 wins |
Score History
40
current score
R1
right now
73.7
current score
Mistral AI
DeepSeek
Mistral Small 4 saves you $150.00/month
That's $1800.00/year compared to R1 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Mistral Small 4 | R1 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 74 | R1 |
| Rank | #207 | #76 | R1 |
| Quality Rank | #207 | #76 | R1 |
| Adoption Rank | #207 | #76 | R1 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 262K | 164K | Mistral Small 4 |
| Pricing | $0.15/$0.60/M | $0.70/$2.50/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 67 | Mistral Small 4 |
| Pricing | 99 | 98 | Mistral Small 4 |
| Context window size | 77 | 75 | Mistral Small 4 |
| Recency | 100 | 38 | Mistral Small 4 |
| Output Capacity | 20 | 70 | R1 |
| Benchmarks | -- | 73 | R1 |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 40/100 (rank #207), placing it in the top 29% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 74/100 (rank #76), placing it in the top 74% of all 290 models tracked.
R1 has a 34-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Mistral Small 4 offers 77% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $11.25/month with Mistral Small 4 vs $48.00/month with R1 - a $36.75 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Mistral Small 4 also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (262K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.60/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (74/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
R1 clearly outperforms Mistral Small 4 with a significant 33.7-point lead. For most general use cases, R1 is the stronger choice. However, Mistral Small 4 may still excel in niche scenarios.
Best for Quality
Mistral Small 4
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Mistral Small 4
77% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Mistral Small 4
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Mistral Small 4
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Mistral Small 4
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Mistral AI
| Capability | Mistral Small 4 | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Mistral AI
DeepSeek
Mistral Small 4 saves you $3.27/month
That's 77% cheaper than R1 at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Mistral Small 4 | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 262K | 164K |
| Max Output Tokens | -- | 16,000 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Mar 16, 2026 | Jan 20, 2025 |