Mistral Small
Mistral Small (September 17, 2024) is a 22B mid-tier model with improved reasoning, alignment, and code at about 80% lower list pricing than its predecessor in Mistral's September 2024 table.
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const result = streamText({ model: 'mistral/mistral-small', prompt: 'Why is the sky blue?'})Playground
Try out Mistral Small by Mistral. Usage is billed to your team at API rates. Free users (those who haven't made a payment) get $5 of credits every 30 days.
Mistral Small
Mistral Small
Providers
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P50 throughput on live AI Gateway traffic, in tokens per second (TPS). Visit the docs for more info.
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Direct request success rate on AI Gateway and per-provider. Visit the docs for more info.
More models by Mistral
| Model |
|---|
| 256K | 0.3s | 49tps | $1.50/M | $7.50/M | — | — | +1 | | 04/29/2026 | ||||
| 256K | 0.3s | 77tps | $0.10/M | $0.30/M | — | — | | 12/09/2025 | |||||
| $0.15/M | — | — | | 05/28/2025 | |||||||||
| 128K | 0.3s | 60tps | $0.10/M | $0.10/M | — | — | | 10/16/2024 | |||||
| 128K | 0.3s | 43tps | $0.15/M | $0.15/M | — | — | | 10/16/2024 | |||||
| $0.10/M | — | — | | 12/11/2023 |
About Mistral Small
Released September 17, 2024, the Mistral Small update was primarily a pricing event, with an approximately 80% reduction in input and output token pricing compared to the prior release. Simultaneous capability improvements in human alignment, reasoning, and code generation made this a significant upgrade rather than just a price cut.
At 22B parameters, Mistral Small sits between Mistral NeMo (12B) and Mistral Large 2 in the lineup Mistral described in September 2024. Mistral Small targets translation, summarization, and sentiment analysis.
The pricing cut plus capability improvements made Mistral Small a common pick for production workloads that previously ran larger, more expensive Mistral endpoints.
What To Consider When Choosing a Provider
- Configuration: At 22B parameters, Mistral Small sits between Mistral NeMo 12B and Mistral Large 2 as a mid-point in the lineup, per Mistral's September 2024 post.
- Zero Data Retention: AI Gateway supports Zero Data Retention for this model via direct gateway requests (BYOK is not included). To configure this, check the documentation.
- Authentication: AI Gateway authenticates requests using an API key or OIDC token. You do not need to manage provider credentials directly.
When to Use Mistral Small
Best for
- Translation and summarization at scale: High-volume translation, summarization, and sentiment analysis workloads
- 22B mid-tier production: Workloads that need competitive per-token pricing
- Mid-point between NeMo and Large: Applications where this capability fit is right
- Cost optimization: For workloads previously using larger Mistral models
Consider alternatives when
- Higher reasoning capability: For workloads that need more depth (consider Mistral Large 3 or Magistral)
- Tekken tokenizer compression: You need multilingual compression advantages (consider Mistral NeMo)
- Vision input: Your workload needs image input (consider Pixtral models)
Conclusion
Mistral Small's September 17, 2024 update cut list pricing and improved alignment, reasoning, and code quality in Mistral's post. An 80% cost reduction shipped alongside those capability changes. Mistral Small remains a fit for teams that want a 22B mid-tier model through AI Gateway.