LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Command R+ (08-2024) 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

Command R+ (08-2024) specs · Mistral Small specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceMistral Small

    Mistral Small is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $10.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowTie

    Both ship a 128K-token context window.

  • BenchmarksTie

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

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text.

  • OpennessTie

    Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

On balance Mistral Small edges ahead, winning 1 of 5 categories against Command R+ (08-2024)'s 0. Mistral Small is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $10.00 per 1M). Both ship a 128K-token context window.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Command R+ (08-2024) is usually picked for rag and data extraction 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

SpecCommand R+ (08-2024)Mistral Small
ProviderCohereMistral
ReleasedAug 2024Sep 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window128K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$2.50 / 1M tokens$0.20 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$10.00 / 1M tokens$0.60 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (CC-BY-NC 4.0)Yes (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$22.50 vs $1.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$225 vs $15.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$435 vs $33.60

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $22.50 vs $1.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $225 vs $15.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $435 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.

  • Command R+ (08-2024)$0.750
  • 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.

Command R+ (08-2024)Mistral Small
  • MMLU75.7
Pick Command R+ (08-2024) if

Command R+ (08-2024) fits when…

  • RAG-tuned
  • Citation generation
  • Enterprise tooling
Pick Mistral Small if

Mistral Small fits when…

  • Apache-2.0 open-weight
  • Fast and cheap
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 16.7× cheaper than Command R+ (08-2024) on output tokens.
Don't want either?

Consider Command R

Cohere's mid-tier RAG-optimized model, affordable and reliable on retrieval workloads.

See Command R specsCommand R+ (08-2024) vs Command RMistral Small vs Command R

Frequently asked

  • Is Command R+ (08-2024) or Mistral Small cheaper?
    Mistral Small is cheaper at $0.60 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for Command R+ (08-2024).
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Both Command R+ (08-2024) and Mistral Small ship a 128K-token context window.
  • Is Command R+ (08-2024) or Mistral Small better for coding?
    Both Command R+ (08-2024) 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?
    Both ship with open weights. Command R+ (08-2024) is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0; Mistral Small under Apache-2.0.
  • When were Command R+ (08-2024) and Mistral Small released?
    Command R+ (08-2024) was released by Cohere on 2024-08-30. 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.