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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B

Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (Mistral AI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 22 September 2026

As of 22 September 2026, Mistral Medium 3.5 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#63 vs #133); Mistral Small 3.2 24B is 30× cheaper per output token ($0.25/1M vs $7.50/1M); Mistral Medium 3.5 offers the longer context window (262K vs 256K tokens); and Mistral Small 3.2 24B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #63 against #133 (62.6 vs 41.9 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 256K.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1479 against 1412.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Mistral Medium 3.5 was listed 30 April 2026, Mistral Small 3.2 24B 20 June 2025.

Choose Mistral Small 3.2 24B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.25/1M output tokens against $7.50/1M, about 30× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.094/1M against $1.50/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Mistral Small 3.2 24B ships open weights while Mistral Medium 3.5 is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 3 listed API providers against 1.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Medium 3.5 and Mistral Small 3.2 24B
FieldMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2 24BMistral AI
ModelCap Index position#63#133
Index score62.641.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.50$0.094
Output price / 1M tokens$7.50$0.25
Context window262K tokens256K tokens
Max output tokens210K16K
API providers listed13
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileImage, Text
First listed30 April 202620 June 2025
PublisherMistral AIMistral AI

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Medium 3.5 or Mistral Small 3.2 24B has a published result
BoardMistral Medium 3.5Mistral Small 3.2 24BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14791468–149014121402–1422Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena AgentLMArena-10.9%-12.3%–-9.4%—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)—37.2Function callingOnly one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis14.2intelligence-index:v4.3:reasoning-unspecified—Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis94.2%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Mistral Medium 3.5":reasoning=true—Only one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis13.8%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Mistral Medium 3.5":reasoning=true—Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B: common questions

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 better than Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Mistral Medium 3.5 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #63 against #133. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals do not overlap, but the aggregate Index does not predict performance on every task; compare the relevant benchmark configurations before choosing.

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 cheaper than Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.25/1M against $7.50/1M. Input tokens are $1.50/1M for Mistral Medium 3.5 and $0.094/1M for Mistral Small 3.2 24B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $6.75 for Mistral Medium 3.5 versus $0.31 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B. Mistral Small 3.2 24B costs 95.4% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Mistral Medium 3.5 has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 256K.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Arena coding: Mistral Medium 3.5 1479, Mistral Small 3.2 24B 1412 — Mistral Medium 3.5 leads.

Are Mistral Medium 3.5 and Mistral Small 3.2 24B open-weight models?

Mistral Medium 3.5: API only. Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Mistral Medium 3.5 and Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mistral Medium 3.5 and 3 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 22 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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