Claude 3 Opus vs Mistral Small 3.2

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.

Claude 3 Opus by Anthropic wins on 8 of 14 benchmarks against Mistral Small 3.2 by Mistral, which leads on 6. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.

Category-by-Category Breakdown

General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude 3 Opus scores 1240 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 1190, while Claude 3 Opus scores 68.0% on MMLU-Pro compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 58.0%.

Coding: In coding, Claude 3 Opus scores 78.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 70.0%, while Claude 3 Opus scores 22.0% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 20.0%, while Claude 3 Opus scores 32.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 24.0%.

Math: In math, Claude 3 Opus scores 68.0% on MATH compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 58.0%, while Claude 3 Opus scores 88.0% on GSM8K compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 80.0%.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude 3 Opus scores 59.4% on GPQA Diamond compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 30.0%, while Mistral Small 3.2 scores 10.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Claude 3 Opus's 8.0%.

Context: In context, Mistral Small 3.2 scores 256K on Context Length compared to Claude 3 Opus's 200K.

Pricing Comparison

Claude 3 Opus costs $15.0/1M input tokens and $75.0/1M output tokens, while Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.07/1M input and $0.20/1M output. Mistral Small 3.2 is the more affordable option for API usage.

Speed Comparison

Claude 3 Opus generates output at 25 tok/s compared to Mistral Small 3.2's 160 tok/s, and the time to first token is 800 ms for Claude 3 Opus versus 120 ms for Mistral Small 3.2. Mistral Small 3.2 delivers faster throughput.

Verdict

For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence and math, Claude 3 Opus has the edge. For those who value affordability and speed, Mistral Small 3.2 is the stronger choice.

Claude 3 Opus vs Mistral Small 3.2 — FAQ

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or Mistral Small 3.2?

Claude 3 Opus wins on more benchmarks overall (8 vs 6). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude 3 Opus compare to Mistral Small 3.2 for coding?

Claude 3 Opus is better for coding, scoring 22.0% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 20.0%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.

Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than Mistral Small 3.2?

Yes, Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper. Claude 3 Opus costs $15.0/1M input and $75.0/1M output tokens. Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.07/1M input and $0.20/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude 3 Opus or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is faster, generating output at 160 tok/s compared to 25 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.

What benchmarks does the Claude 3 Opus vs Mistral Small 3.2 comparison cover?

This comparison covers 14 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, LiveCodeBench, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.