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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Mistral Small 4 (Mistral AI) and Qwen3 235B A22B (Qwen) 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, Qwen3 235B A22B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#88 vs #90); Mistral Small 4 is 3× cheaper per output token ($0.60/1M vs $1.82/1M); and Mistral Small 4 offers the longer context window (262K vs 131K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Small 4 if…

  • API cost matters — $0.60/1M output tokens against $1.82/1M, about 3× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.15/1M against $0.455/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 131K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Mistral Small 4 was listed 16 March 2026, Qwen3 235B A22B 28 April 2025.

Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #88 against #90 (52.6 vs 52.2 points).

Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 235B A22B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 235B A22B
FieldMistral Small 4Mistral AIQwen3 235B A22BQwen
ModelCap Index position#90#88
Index score52.252.6
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.15$0.455
Output price / 1M tokens$0.60$1.82
Context window262K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens210K8K
API providers listed11
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, ImageText
First listed16 March 202628 April 2025
PublisherMistral AIQwen

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 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 Small 4 vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Small 4 or Qwen3 235B A22B has a published result
BoardMistral Small 4Qwen3 235B A22BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14451438–1453No thinkingOnly one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis11.3intelligence-index:v4.3:reasoning-unspecified—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 Small 4 vs Qwen3 235B A22B: common questions

Is Mistral Small 4 better than Qwen3 235B A22B?

Qwen3 235B A22B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #88 against #90. 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 overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Mistral Small 4 cheaper than Qwen3 235B A22B?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on output tokens: $0.60/1M against $1.82/1M. Input tokens are $0.15/1M for Mistral Small 4 and $0.455/1M for Qwen3 235B A22B. 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 $0.60 for Mistral Small 4 versus $1.82 for Qwen3 235B A22B. Mistral Small 4 costs 67.0% 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 Small 4 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Small 4 or Qwen3 235B A22B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Mistral Small 4 and Qwen3 235B A22B open-weight models?

Mistral Small 4: Open weights. Qwen3 235B A22B: 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 Small 4 and Qwen3 235B A22B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mistral Small 4 and 1 for Qwen3 235B A22B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Small 4 vs Qwen3 235B A22B 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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