Command R+ vs Mistral Small 3
RAG-tuned enterprise workhorse. Meanwhile, mistral small 3: small, open-weights, surprisingly sharp.
Side-by-side
Specs
| Dimension | Command R+ | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Cohere | Mistral |
| Released | 2025-06 | 2025-09 |
| Context window | 128K | 128K |
| Output max | 4K | ✓8K |
| Input /M | $2.50 | ✓$0.20 |
| Output /M | $10.00 | ✓$0.60 |
| Modalities | text | text |
| Open weights | yes | yes |
Scorecard
Dimension-by-dimension
Command R+
Mistral Small 3
reasoning
7.0
6.0
coding
6.0
7.0
writing
8.0
7.0
speed
7.0
9.0
value
7.0
10.0
Verdict
Which wins, by use case
| Use case | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| coding | Mistral Small 3 | a clear edge on our weighted coding score |
| writing | Command R+ | a coin flip on our weighted writing score |
| chat | Mistral Small 3 | a decisive lead on our weighted chat score |
| agents | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted agents score |
| summarization | Mistral Small 3 | a decisive lead on our weighted summarization score |
| translation | Mistral Small 3 | a clear edge on our weighted translation score |
| reasoning | Command R+ | a coin flip on our weighted reasoning score |
| research | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted research score |
| vision and multimodal | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted vision score |
| Cheapest AI models for bulk workloads | Mistral Small 3 | a decisive lead on our weighted cheap-bulk score |
Bottom line
Our take
Pick Command R+ if you need: purpose-built for rag, strong citations.
Pick Mistral Small 3 if you need: tiny cost, open weights.
At a 500M-input / 150M-output monthly volume, Command R+ costs roughly $2750 vs Mistral Small 3 at $190. Use our calculator to plug in your own numbers.
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