MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Mistral Small 3.2
Which is better for the money: MiniMax-M3.1-Flash by MiniMax or Mistral Small 3.2 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
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash scores 35.7 points higher (42.7 vs 7.0) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($283 vs $122; both mid-range class). Pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mistral Small 3.2.
| Metric | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Mistral Small 3.2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.7 | 7.0 | −83.6% Mistral Small 3.2 is 83.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $283.18 | $121.78 | −57.0% Mistral Small 3.2 is 57.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 25.34s | 12.50s | −50.7% Mistral Small 3.2 is 50.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.07 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.2 vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash: 83.6% less intelligence, 57.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 50.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Mistral Small 3.2 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
MiniMax-M3.1-FlashMistral Small 3.2Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/minimax-m3-1-flash/mistral-small-3-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/minimax-m3-1-flash/mistral-small-3-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill