Compare / MiniMax vs Mistral AI
MiniMax vs Mistral AI: which AI lab is ahead?
Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 17 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.
Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 4 both are measured on.
Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.
MiniMax or Mistral AI? The short answer
MiniMax and Mistral AI are level: each lab's best model leads in 2 of the 4 kinds of work both are measured on.
- Pick MiniMax for reasoning and knowledge and writing.
- Pick Mistral AI for agents and tool use and sticking to the facts.
- Mistral AI's Mistral Large 4 is #17 on our overall leaderboard; no MiniMax model has enough of our results to be ranked there yet.
- Prices start at $0.52 per million tokens for MiniMax (MiniMax-M3) and $0.058 for Mistral AI (Mistral Small 3).
Head to head
Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.
Which lab is better for what
For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
Every model, by intelligence and price
Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.
MiniMaxMistral AI
On our overall leaderboard
The 2 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.
- #17Mistral Large 437
- #20Mistral Medium 3.518
Benchmark by benchmark
The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.
| Measure | MiniMax | Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool use | ||
| Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better | 2.0%MiniMax-M3 · 44 of 105 | 26.8%Mistral Large 4 · 17 of 105 |
| Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better | 65.2%MiniMax-M3 · 37 of 115 | 50.6%Mistral Medium 3.5 · 58 of 115 |
| Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better | 15.3%MiniMax-M3 · 55 of 113 | 15.1%Mistral Medium 3.5 · 57 of 113 |
| Reasoning and knowledge | ||
| Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better | 29.2MiniMax-M3 · 50 of 198 | 38.4Mistral Large 4 · 29 of 198 |
| Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better | 39.0%MiniMax-M3 · 41 of 197 | 35.0%Mistral Large 4 · 54 of 197 |
| Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better | 92.9%MiniMax-M3 · 14 of 187 | 76.9%Mistral Small 4 · 112 of 187 |
| Sticking to the facts | ||
| Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better | 9.1%MiniMax-M2.5 · 34 of 79 | 5.1%Mistral Small 3 · 6 of 79 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better | 1,434MiniMax-M3 · 69 of 113 | 1,434Mistral Large 3 · 71 of 113 |
| Writing | ||
| Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,440MiniMax-M3 · 63 of 166 | 1,427Mistral Medium 3.5 · 73 of 166 |
| UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better | 41.7MiniMax-M2.5 · 80 of 138 | 45.5Mistral Medium 3.5 · 68 of 138 |
Quick answers
Is MiniMax or Mistral AI better?
MiniMax and Mistral AI are level: each lab's best model leads in 2 of the 4 kinds of work both are measured on.
What is MiniMax's best model?
MiniMax-M3: 29.2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
What is Mistral AI's best model?
Mistral Large 4: #17 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 38.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Which is better for agents and tool use, MiniMax or Mistral AI?
Mistral AI: its best model there, Mistral Large 4, ranks 21 of 164 models on sale, against 74 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, MiniMax or Mistral AI?
MiniMax: its best model there, MiniMax-M3, ranks 38 of 198 models on sale, against 44 for Mistral AI's Mistral Large 4.
Which is better for writing, MiniMax or Mistral AI?
MiniMax: its best model there, MiniMax-M3, ranks 66 of 188 models on sale, against 86 for Mistral AI's Mistral Medium 3.5.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax or Mistral AI?
Mistral AI's cheapest model with results, Mistral Small 3, costs $0.058 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $0.52 for MiniMax-M3 from MiniMax.
Other labs compared
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- Alibaba vs Mistral AIBest model against best model
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Which model is best for your product?
Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from MiniMax, Mistral AI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.