GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) vs Mistral Small 3.1
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) by OpenAI or Mistral Small 3.1 by Mistral? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) scores 17.9 points higher (25.0 vs 7.1) but costs 1.6× as much to run the benchmark ($44.3 vs $27.8; both budget class). Pick GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mistral Small 3.1.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) | Mistral Small 3.1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 25.0 | 7.1 | −71.6% Mistral Small 3.1 is 71.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $44.32 | $27.82 | −37.2% Mistral Small 3.1 is 37.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.43s | 10.55s | +64.1% Mistral Small 3.1 is 64.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.08 / $0.14 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.1 vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium): 71.6% less intelligence, 37.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 64.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
- Mistral Small 3.1 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium)Mistral Small 3.1Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-medium/mistral-small-3-1 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-medium/mistral-small-3-1?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill