Muse Spark Open vs Mistral Small 3
Mistral Small 3 costs 53.1x less per output token than Muse Spark Open ($0.08 vs $4.25 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Muse Spark Open or Mistral Small 3: which to pick
Only Muse Spark Open has a coding score, 47.4 on the Vibe Coding Index; Mistral Small 3 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Mistral Small 3 for output tokens 53.1x cheaper ($0.08 vs $4.25 per million).
- Shared results
- 3
- Muse Spark Open only
- 25
- Mistral Small 3 only
- 33
- Like-for-like categories
- 2 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Muse Spark Open has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Mistral Small 3 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 6.7.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Muse Spark Open has a Design Arena: websites result, 1317.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Muse Spark Open has a Vals Index result, 48.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Muse Spark Open
Muse Spark Open takes 1.05M tokens against 33K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Small 3
Muse Spark Open $0.0034, Mistral Small 3 $0.0001 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Muse Spark Open 47.4 from 4 benchmarks, Mistral Small 3 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 78.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Muse Spark Open 78.3% against Mistral Small 3 0.0%, 78.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Muse Spark Open $4.25 against Mistral Small 3 $0.08 per million output tokens, 53.1x apart.
- Context window
- Muse Spark Open takes 1.05M tokens, Mistral Small 3 33K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Muse Spark Open | Bars | Mistral Small 3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 2 | 0 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 3 | 0 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 73.6% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1528 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 6.6% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 76.2% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 21.2% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 25.2% | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| SciCode | 58.4% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| ALE-Bench | 1590.1 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1246 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1248 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1529 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1495 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 6.7 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.1 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | 80.3% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LiveBench browser | 36.0% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 18.9% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 61.3% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 26.3% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 38.5% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 25.0% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 53.7% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 19.6% | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| APEX-Agents | 33.4% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 73.7% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 89.0% | 46.2% | Muse Spark Open |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.9% | 3.8% | Muse Spark Open |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1233 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1202 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1243 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 4.3 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1240 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1243 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 65.2% | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1235 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1215 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1219 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1205 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1317 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1294 | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LiveBench design | 60.3% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 48.6% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 60.2% | Not measured | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 26.4% | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 78.3% | 0.0% | Muse Spark Open |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1234 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1214 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1194 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1256 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1198 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1204 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1211 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1111 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1188 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1204 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1216 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1217 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1246 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1214 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1184 | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Small 3 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mistral Small 3 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mistral Small 3 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Meta Muse Spark Open | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Meta | Mistral AI |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 15, 2026 | January 30, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 33K |
| Input $/Mtok | $1.25 | $0.05 |
| Output $/Mtok | $4.25 | $0.08 |
| Coding index | 47.4 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Muse Spark Open better than Mistral Small 3 for coding?
Only Muse Spark Open has a coding score, 47.4 on the Vibe Coding Index; Mistral Small 3 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Mistral Small 3 for output tokens 53.1x cheaper ($0.08 vs $4.25 per million).
Which is cheaper, Muse Spark Open or Mistral Small 3?
Muse Spark Open costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens; Mistral Small 3 costs $0.05 and $0.08. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Muse Spark Open or Mistral Small 3?
Muse Spark Open, with 1.05M tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks is the Muse Spark Open vs Mistral Small 3 comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Muse Spark Open's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and Mistral Small 3's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.