Compare / Gemini 4 Argon vs Mistral Small 4
Gemini 4 Argon vs Mistral Small 4
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 10 results on 2 sources that measured both models.
Of the 10 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 14 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-14-7d7cf32c3f6d). See also Google vs Mistral AI, every model from both labs.
Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4? The short answer
Pick Gemini 4 Argon: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 52.6 against 11.3) at about the same price.
- They cost about the same to run: $0.004 and $0.004 per game of bullet chess on BulletBench.
- Gemini 4 Argon scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 52.6 against 11.3.
- Gemini 4 Argon is newer: released 13 Oct 2026, against 16 Mar 2026 for Mistral Small 4.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Gemini 4 Argon does better for agents and tool use and reasoning and knowledge.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Gemini 4 Argon | Mistral Small 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $2.00 in · $10.00 out | $0.15 in · $0.60 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $4.00 | $0.26 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $0.26 (Mistral) |
| Cost per game of bullet chess (BulletBench) | $0.004 | $0.004 |
| Cached input, per million | – | $0.015 cached input |
| Intelligence Index | 52.6 | 11.3 |
| Spring Prompt overall | 75 | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | 182 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Released | 13 Oct 2026 (newer) | 16 Mar 2026 |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | the US | France |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
From our research
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Gemini 4 Argon | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| BulletBench measured by Spring Prompt · 3 results | ||
| Cost per game · Bullet 60sUS dollars, lower is better 10 · 11 of 30 measured | $0.0036 | $0.0039no reasoning |
| Ladder Elo · Bullet 60sladder Elo, higher is better 26 · 21 of 30 measured | 147 | 367no reasoning |
| Games lost on time · Bullet 60s% of games, lower is better 28 · 13 of 30 measured | 87.5% | 25.0%no reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 5 · 160 of 244 measured | 52.6high reasoning | 11.3 |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 3 · 157 of 243 measured | 57.1%high reasoning | 9.9% |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 4 · 67 of 113 measured | 57.1%high reasoning | 0.0% |
Show all 10 results (4 more)
| Measure | Gemini 4 Argon | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| BulletBench measured by Spring Prompt · 2 results | ||
| Invalid moves · Bullet 60s% of moves, lower is better 1 · 28 of 30 measured | 0.0% | 0.6%no reasoning |
| Median move time · Bullet 60smilliseconds, lower is better 28 · 8 of 30 measured | 2.9 s | 0.6 sno reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 2 results | ||
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 44 · 158 of 234 measured | 79.7%high reasoning | 49.7% |
| SciCode% of problems, higher is better 3 · 84 of 114 measured | 61.8%high reasoning | 38.8% |
Compare them with other models
- Google vs Mistral AIEvery model from both labs, best against best
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Claude Opus 5.5Most intelligent at $3–10 per million tokens
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Cheapest with similar intelligence
- Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6 AstraJust above overall
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Muse WonderJust below overall
- Mistral Small 4 vs Claude Opus 5.5Most intelligent available today
Quick answers
Is Gemini 4 Argon better than Mistral Small 4?
Pick Gemini 4 Argon: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 52.6 against 11.3) at about the same price.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
They cost about the same to run: $0.004 and $0.004 per game of bullet chess on BulletBench.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 4 Argon ranks 3 of 166 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 135 for Mistral Small 4.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 4 Argon ranks 3 of 200 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 133 for Mistral Small 4.
Which is better for writing, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 4 Argon ranks 1 of 189 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 116 for Mistral Small 4.
Which is better for speed under pressure, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 ranks 11 of 25 models on sale for good decisions against a real clock (fast chess), against 20 for Gemini 4 Argon.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 4 Argon or Mistral Small 4?
Gemini 4 Argon: 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Mistral Small 4.
Run Gemini 4 Argon and Mistral Small 4 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.