Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Small 4

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

Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic wins on 5 of 9 benchmarks against Mistral Small 4 by Mistral, which leads on 4. 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 Sonnet 4.6 scores 30.5 on AA Intelligence Index compared to Mistral Small 4's 11.5.

Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 63 on AA Coding Index compared to Mistral Small 4's 26.6.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Mistral Small 4 scores 75.8% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 54.3%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 33.1 on AA Agentic Index compared to Mistral Small 4's 1.4, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 75.3% on τ²-Bench Airline compared to Mistral Small 4's 43.7%.

Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to Mistral Small 4's 262K.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens, while Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.60/1M output. Mistral Small 4 is the more affordable option for API usage.

Verdict

Mistral Small 4 leads across the board in affordability, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Small 4 — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Mistral Small 4?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins on more benchmarks overall (5 vs 4). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.6 compare to Mistral Small 4 for coding?

SWE-bench Verified data is not available for both models. Check the detailed comparison charts above for other coding-related metrics.

Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than Mistral Small 4?

Yes, Mistral Small 4 is cheaper. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens. Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.60/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Mistral Small 4?

Output speed data is not available for both models. Check the speed section of the comparison above for available performance data.

What benchmarks does the Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Small 4 comparison cover?

This comparison covers 9 benchmarks including GPQA Diamond, Input Cost, Output Cost, Context Length, AA Intelligence Index, AA Coding Index, AA Agentic Index, Cached Input Cost, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.