AI model comparison
Gemma 3 4B vs Mistral Small 3
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Gemma 3 4B
Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs.
- Input / 1M
- $0.05
- Output / 1M
- $0.10
- Context
- 131K
Mistral
Mistral Small 3
Mistral Small 3 is a 24B-parameter language model optimized for low-latency performance across common AI tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $0.05
- Output / 1M
- $0.08
- Context
- 33K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Mistral Small 3
1.1x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Mistral Small 3
6.7 vs 4.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemma 3 4B
131K vs 33K tokens
Newer release
Gemma 3 4B
Released March 13, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Gemma 3 4B4.8Mistral Small 36.7Coding index
Gemma 3 4B2.7Mistral Small 3Not availableAgentic index
Gemma 3 4BNot availableMistral Small 3Not availablePricing
Gemma 3 4B vs Mistral Small 3 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Gemma 3 4B | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.05 | $0.05 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.10 | $0.08 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Gemma 3 4B$0.15Mistral Small 3$0.14Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Gemma 3 4B$1.90Mistral Small 3$1.82Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Gemma 3 4B$7.70Mistral Small 3$7.66Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Gemma 3 4B | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 131K tokens | 33K tokens |
| Max output | 16K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | March 13, 2025 | January 30, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Gemma 3 4B | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Not supported | Not supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Not supported | Not supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Mistral Small 3View full model details- Mistral Small 3 vs gpt-oss-20b
- Mistral Small 3 vs Mistral Nemo
- Mistral Small 3 vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
- Mistral Small 3 vs Nova Micro 1.0
- Mistral Small 3 vs Ministral 3 8B 2512
- Mistral Small 3 vs Ministral 3 3B 2512
- Mistral Small 3 vs Phi 4
- Mistral Small 3 vs Ministral 3 14B 2512
- Mistral Small 3 vs Nova Lite 1.0
- Mistral Small 3 vs Granite 4.0 Micro
Our take
Mistral Small 3 is 1.1x cheaper for a typical chat. Mistral Small 3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (6.7 vs 4.8). Gemma 3 4B has the larger context window (131K vs 33K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 4B or Mistral Small 3 cheaper?
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Mistral Small 3 costs $0.05 per 1M input tokens and $0.08 per 1M output tokens, while Gemma 3 4B costs $0.05 per 1M input tokens and $0.10 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Gemma 3 4B or Mistral Small 3?
Gemma 3 4B supports up to 131K tokens of context, compared with 33K for Mistral Small 3.
Is Gemma 3 4B smarter than Mistral Small 3?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Gemma 3 4B scores 4.8 and Mistral Small 3 scores 6.7, putting Mistral Small 3 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Gemma 3 4B and Mistral Small 3 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Gemma 3 4B and Mistral Small 3 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Gemma 3 4B and Mistral Small 3 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.