Model comparison - Similar price, same tier
MiniMax-M3 vs Mistral Small 4
MiniMax-M3 is from MiniMax and Mistral Small 4 is from Mistral AI. On list price, MiniMax-M3 charges 2x Mistral Small 4's input price ($0.30 vs $0.15 per 1M tokens), and MiniMax-M3 charges 2x Mistral Small 4's output price ($1.20 vs $0.60 per 1M tokens). MiniMax-M3 has a 1,000,000-token context window and Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens; MiniMax-M3 returns up to 524,288 output tokens per response, and no primary source states a max output for Mistral Small 4. MiniMax-M3 was released on June 1, 2026 and Mistral Small 4 on March 15, 2026. Both publish open weights.
Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | MiniMax-M3 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | Mistral AI |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.15 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $1.20 | $0.60 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.06 | $0.015 |
| Batch input / 1M | - | $0.075 |
| Batch output / 1M | - | $0.30 |
| Long-context rates above | 512,000 tokens | - |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 256,000 |
| Max output | 524,288 | - |
| Release date | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| License | MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community) | Apache 2.0 |
| API model id | MiniMax-M3 | mistral-small-2603 |
| AI Gateway id | minimax/minimax-m3 | mistral/mistral-small |
| Last verified |
Prices in USD per 1M tokens at each provider's standard first-party rate. A dash means the provider does not bill that item separately or no primary page states it.
What each costs in practice
The same three workloads every model page uses, worked from each model's standard list rates. Swap in your own token counts with the math on each model's page.
| Workload | MiniMax-M3 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching. | $0.42 | $0.21 |
| A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each. | $12.00$360.00 per 30-day month | $6.00$180.00 per 30-day month |
| The same session at a 90% cache hit90% of the input is read from the prompt cache. The one-time cache write premium is not included. | $0.204 | $0.0885 |
Show the math
MiniMax-M3
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $1.20 = $6.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.06 = $0.054Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
Mistral Small 4
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.15 = $0.15Output: 0.1M x $0.60 = $0.06
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.15 = $3.00Output: 5M x $0.60 = $3.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.015 = $0.0135Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.15 = $0.015Output: 0.1M x $0.60 = $0.06
Benchmarks under the same setting
No board in the benchmark directory lists both MiniMax-M3 and Mistral Small 4 under the same setting, so there is no like-for-like score to show here.
Set them up in your tools
Step-by-step guides whose official docs list MiniMax-M3 or Mistral Small 4 by model id.
- Use MiniMax in AiderLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Claude CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ClineLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Codex CLILists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in CursorLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GitHub CopilotLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GooseLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Kilo CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ZedLists MiniMax-M3
- Use Mistral in AiderLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in ClineLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in ContinueLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in GitHub CopilotLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in GooseLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in Kilo CodeLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in OpenCodeLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in Roo CodeLists Mistral Small 4
- Use Mistral in ZedLists Mistral Small 4
Model pages
FAQ
How do MiniMax-M3 and Mistral Small 4 compare on price?
On list price, MiniMax-M3 charges 2x Mistral Small 4's input price ($0.30 vs $0.15 per 1M tokens), and MiniMax-M3 charges 2x Mistral Small 4's output price ($1.20 vs $0.60 per 1M tokens). For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $0.42 on MiniMax-M3 and $0.21 on Mistral Small 4. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.
What are the context windows of MiniMax-M3 and Mistral Small 4?
MiniMax-M3 has a 1,000,000-token context window and Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens; MiniMax-M3 returns up to 524,288 output tokens per response, and no primary source states a max output for Mistral Small 4.
Are MiniMax-M3 and Mistral Small 4 open weights?
MiniMax-M3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community). Mistral Small 4's weights are published at huggingface.co under the Apache 2.0.
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Sources
MiniMax-M3 verified from platform.minimax.io; Mistral Small 4 verified from docs.mistral.ai. This page is as current as the older of the two: .
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing
- https://docs.mistral.ai/inference/pricing
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/text-generation
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-anthropic-api
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-chat-anthropic
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/release-notes/models
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3/raw/main/LICENSE
- https://docs.mistral.ai/models/mistral-small-4-0-26-03
- https://docs.mistral.ai/resources/changelogs
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