Kimi K3 (Max) vs Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi 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
Kimi K3 (Max) scores 32.3 points higher (43.6 vs 11.3) but costs 86× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $42.5; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 11.3, and Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) when 11.3 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 11.3 | −74.1% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 74.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $42.50 | −98.8% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 98.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.08s | 14.50s | −77.0% Mistral Small 4 (Reas… is 77.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 74.1% less intelligence, 98.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 77.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
Kimi K3 (Max)Mistral Small 4 (Reasoning)Today'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/kimi-k3/mistral-small-4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/mistral-small-4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill