Compare/Mistral Small 3 vs Step 3.5 Flash

Mistral Small 3vsStep 3.5 Flash

Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.

Mistral

Mistral Small 3

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
162 tok/s
TTFT
0.41s
StepFun

Step 3.5 Flash

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
93 tok/s
TTFT
3.48s

Winner by Category

Cheaper
Tie
Faster (tok/s)
Mistral Small 3
Lower Latency
Mistral Small 3
Benchmarks (5-7)
Step 3.5 Flash

Pricing Comparison

MetricMistral Small 3Step 3.5 Flash
Input ($/M tokens)$0.1$0.1
Output ($/M tokens)$0.3$0.3
Cost for 1M input + 100K output tokens:
Mistral Small 3$0.13
Step 3.5 Flash$0.13

Speed Comparison

Output Speed (tokens/s) — higher is better
Mistral Small 3
162 tok/s
Step 3.5 Flash
93 tok/s
Time to First Token (seconds) — lower is better
Mistral Small 3
0.41s
Step 3.5 Flash
3.48s

Benchmark Comparison

Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks

Intelligence Index
12.737.8
Coding Index
31.6
Math Index
4.3
GPQA Diamond
46.2%83.1%
MMLU-Pro
65.2%
LiveCodeBench
25.2%
AIME 2025
4.3%
MATH-500
71.5%
Humanity's Last Exam
4.1%19.1%
SciCode
23.6%40.4%
IFBench
26.4%64.6%
TerminalBench
27.3%
Mistral Small 35 wins
7 winsStep 3.5 Flash

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3 or Step 3.5 Flash?

Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.

Which model performs better on benchmarks?

Step 3.5 Flash wins 7 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 5 for Mistral Small 3. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.

Which is faster for real-time applications?

Mistral Small 3 generates tokens faster at 162 tok/s vs 93 tok/s. Mistral Small 3 also has lower time-to-first-token (0.41s vs 3.48s).

When should I use Mistral Small 3 vs Step 3.5 Flash?

Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, Step 3.5 Flash for stronger benchmark performance, and Mistral Small 3 for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.