LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Claude Opus 4 vs Mistral Small

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Claude Opus 4 specs · Mistral Small specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceMistral Small

    Mistral Small is roughly 125.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $75.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowClaude Opus 4

    Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesClaude Opus 4

    Claude Opus 4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Mistral Small.

  • OpennessMistral Small

    Mistral Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.

It's a genuine coin-flip between Claude Opus 4 and Mistral Small: 2 category wins each, with the rest tied. Mistral Small is roughly 125.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $75.00 per 1M). Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Opus 4 handles text, vision while Mistral Small handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Mistral Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.

Claude Opus 4 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Mistral Small, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Opus 4 is usually picked for coding llm and coding agent workloads, while Mistral Small sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecClaude Opus 4Mistral Small
ProviderAnthropicMistral
ReleasedMay 2025Sep 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window200K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$15.00 / 1M tokens$0.20 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$75.00 / 1M tokens$0.60 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2025-03,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$158 vs $1.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$1,575 vs $15.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$2,700 vs $33.60

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $158 vs $1.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $1,575 vs $15.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $2,700 vs $33.60 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Claude Opus 4$5.25
  • Mistral Small$0.050

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Claude Opus 4Mistral Small
  • HumanEval95.0
  • SWE-bench Verified72.5
Pick Claude Opus 4 if

Claude Opus 4 fits when…

  • Set the SWE-bench bar at launch
  • Excellent for writing and code
  • Strong long-context handling
  • Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Mistral Small.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick Mistral Small if

Mistral Small fits when…

  • Apache-2.0 open-weight
  • Fast and cheap
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 125.0× cheaper than Claude Opus 4 on output tokens.
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Don't want either?

Consider Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.

See Claude Opus 4.7 specsClaude Opus 4 vs Claude Opus 4.7Mistral Small vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude Opus 4 or Mistral Small cheaper?
    Mistral Small is cheaper at $0.60 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $75.00 / 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Mistral Small.
  • Is Claude Opus 4 or Mistral Small better for coding?
    Both Claude Opus 4 and Mistral Small are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Mistral Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0). Claude Opus 4 is API-only.
  • When were Claude Opus 4 and Mistral Small released?
    Claude Opus 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Mistral Small was released by Mistral on 2024-09-18.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.