Skip to content
ModelCap

Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Small 4 vs GLM 4.5 Air

Mistral Small 4 (Mistral AI) and GLM 4.5 Air (Z.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 9 September 2026

As of 9 September 2026, GLM 4.5 Air holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#94 vs #96); Mistral Small 4 is 1.4× cheaper per output token ($0.60/1M vs $0.85/1M); 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 $0.85/1M, about 1.4× cheaper.
  • 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, GLM 4.5 Air 25 July 2025.

Choose GLM 4.5 Air if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #94 against #96 (41.8 vs 41.1 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.13/1M against $0.15/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 3 listed API providers against 2.

Mistral Small 4 vs GLM 4.5 Air: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Small 4 and GLM 4.5 Air
FieldMistral Small 4Mistral AIGLM 4.5 AirZ.ai
ModelCap Index position#96#94
Index score41.141.8
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.15$0.13
Output price / 1M tokens$0.60$0.85
Context window262K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens210K98K
API providers listed23
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, ImageText
First listed16 March 202625 July 2025
PublisherMistral AIZ.ai

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 GLM 4.5 Air

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Small 4 or GLM 4.5 Air has a published result
BoardMistral Small 4GLM 4.5 AirLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14271419–1435Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis11.5intelligence-index:v4.3:reasoning-unspecified—Only one result
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Artificial Analysis21.0%terminal-bench:2.1:terminus-2:e2b:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Mistral Small 4":reasoning=true—Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—46.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="GLM-4.5-Air":reasoning=trueOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—7.0%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="GLM-4.5-Air":reasoning=trueOnly 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 GLM 4.5 Air: common questions

Is Mistral Small 4 better than GLM 4.5 Air?

GLM 4.5 Air ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 9 September 2026: #94 against #96. 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 GLM 4.5 Air?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on output tokens: $0.60/1M against $0.85/1M. Input tokens are $0.15/1M for Mistral Small 4 and $0.13/1M for GLM 4.5 Air. 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 $0.69 for GLM 4.5 Air. Mistral Small 4 costs 12.4% 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 Small 4 or GLM 4.5 Air?

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

Which is better for coding, Mistral Small 4 or GLM 4.5 Air?

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 GLM 4.5 Air open-weight models?

Mistral Small 4: Open weights. GLM 4.5 Air: 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 GLM 4.5 Air?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Mistral Small 4 and 3 for GLM 4.5 Air, 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 GLM 4.5 Air comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 9 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.

Explore further