Mixtral 8x22BvsMistral Small
Mistral AI vs Mistral AI — Side-by-side model comparison
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Metric | Mixtral 8x22B | Mistral Small |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Arena Rank | #16 | #19 |
| Context Window | 64K | 32K |
| Input Pricing | $0.90/1M tokens | $0.20/1M tokens |
| Output Pricing | $2.70/1M tokens | $0.60/1M tokens |
| Parameters | 176B (39B active) | 22B |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Best For | Efficient reasoning, multilingual, coding | Fast inference, cost-effective tasks, chat |
| Release Date | Apr 17, 2024 | Sep 18, 2024 |
Mixtral 8x22B
Mixtral 8x22B is Mistral AI's large mixture-of-experts model that uses a sparse architecture to achieve strong performance while activating only a fraction of its total parameters per token. With 176 billion total parameters but only 39 billion active per forward pass, it delivers efficiency that makes it practical to deploy despite its size. It features a 64K context window and excels at multilingual tasks, coding, and mathematical reasoning.
View Mistral AI profile →Mistral Small
Mistral Small is Mistral AI's efficient model optimized for low-latency, cost-effective deployments. At 22 billion parameters with a 32K context window, it delivers strong performance for everyday tasks including summarization, classification, and conversational AI. It offers an excellent balance between capability and cost, making it suitable for high-volume production applications where fast response times matter.
View Mistral AI profile →Key Differences: Mixtral 8x22B vs Mistral Small
Mixtral 8x22B ranks higher in arena benchmarks (#16) indicating stronger overall performance.
Mistral Small is 4.5x cheaper on average, making it the better choice for high-volume applications.
Mixtral 8x22B supports a larger context window (64K), allowing it to process longer documents in a single request.
Mixtral 8x22B has 176B (39B active) parameters vs Mistral Small's 22B, which affects inference speed and capability.
When to use Mixtral 8x22B
- +You need the highest quality output based on arena rankings
- +Quality matters more than cost
- +You need to process long documents (64K context)
- +Your use case involves efficient reasoning, multilingual, coding
When to use Mistral Small
- +Budget is a concern and you need cost efficiency
- +Your use case involves fast inference, cost-effective tasks, chat
Cost Analysis
At current pricing, Mistral Small is 4.5x more affordable than Mixtral 8x22B. For a typical enterprise workload processing 100M tokens per month:
Mixtral 8x22B monthly cost
$180
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
Mistral Small monthly cost
$40
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
The Verdict
Mixtral 8x22B wins our head-to-head comparison with 3 out of 5 category wins. It's the stronger choice for efficient reasoning, multilingual, coding, though Mistral Small holds an edge in fast inference, cost-effective tasks, chat. If cost is your primary concern, Mistral Small offers better value.
Last compared: March 2026 · Data sourced from public benchmarks and official pricing pages