Google vs 
Mistral AI
Verdict
- Google's flagship leads: Gemini 4 Argon at 70.7 vs Mistral Large 4 at 56.7.
- Google has the better model in 4 of 4 price bands.
- Google's fastest ranked model (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, 430 tok/s) beats Mistral AI's (Ministral 3 3B, 207 tok/s).
- Mistral AI publishes more open-weights models (32 vs 17).
- Google ships more often: one model every 15 days against every 28.
Best model per price band
Each provider’s highest-index model below the price ceiling. Purple marks the winner of the band.
| Price band | Mistral AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50/M | Gemma 4 26B A4B 56.2$0.198/M | Mistral Small 4 thinking 45.6$0.262/M |
| Under $2/M | Gemini 3.8 Flash high 64.4$1.50/M | Mistral Medium 3.1 46.1$0.800/M |
| Under $10/M | Gemini 4 Argon high 70.7$4.00/M | Mistral Large 4 56.7$2.06/M |
| Any price | Gemini 4 Argon high 70.7$4.00/M | Mistral Large 4 56.7$2.06/M |
Line-up
| Metric | Mistral AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Flagship index | 70.7 | 56.7 |
| Ranked models | 40 | 31 |
| Open-weights models | 17 | 32 |
| Cheapest ranked, $/M | $0.040 | $0.058 |
| Fastest ranked, tok/s | 430 | 207 |
| Release cadence, days | 15 | 28 |
| Last release | 6 Oct 2026 | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Next expected | 15 Oct 2026 – 27 Oct 2026 | 22 Oct 2026 – 14 Nov 2026 |
Data as of 25 Oct 2026. See Google and Mistral AI in full.