GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) vs Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI or Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) by Mistral? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) scores 27.9 points higher (39.2 vs 11.3) but costs 23× as much to run the benchmark ($997 vs $42.5; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) when you need intelligence above 11.3, and Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) when 11.3 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) | Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.2 | 11.3 | −71.2% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 71.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $997.39 | $42.50 | −95.7% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 95.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 10.00s | 14.50s | +45.0% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 45.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium): 71.2% less intelligence, 95.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 45.0% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium)Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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