AI model comparison
Mistral Small 4 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Mistral
Mistral Small 4
Mistral Small 4 is the next major release in the Mistral Small family, unifying the capabilities of several flagship Mistral models into a single system.
- Input / 1M
- $0.15
- Output / 1M
- $0.60
- Context
- 262K
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is a lightweight reasoning model in the Gemini 2.5 family, optimized for ultra-low latency and cost efficiency.
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is scheduled to be retired on October 20, 2026. Consider Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite instead.
- Input / 1M
- $0.10
- Output / 1M
- $0.40
- Context
- 1.05M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
1.5x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Mistral Small 4
11.3 vs 10.4 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
1.05M vs 262K tokens
Newer release
Mistral Small 4
Released March 16, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Mistral Small 4 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.10 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.60 | $0.40 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.02 | $0.01 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | $0.08 |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.014 |
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
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 210K tokens | 66K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Audio, File, Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, None | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Not available |
| Release date | March 16, 2026 | July 22, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Our take
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is 1.5x cheaper for a typical chat. Mistral Small 4 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (11.3 vs 10.4). Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite has the larger context window (1.05M vs 262K 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 Mistral Small 4 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite cheaper?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.40 per 1M output tokens, while Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.60 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Mistral Small 4 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 262K for Mistral Small 4.
Is Mistral Small 4 smarter than Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Mistral Small 4 scores 11.3 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite scores 10.4, putting Mistral Small 4 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Mistral Small 4 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Mistral Small 4 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Mistral Small 4 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.