Mistral Small 3 vs Qwen3.5-9B
Qwen3.5-9B leads Mistral Small 3 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 13.3 to 6.7, and Mistral Small 3 costs 1.9x less per output token ($0.08 vs $0.15 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 6 benchmarks have a result for both.
Mistral Small 3 or Qwen3.5-9B: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Mistral Small 3 for output tokens 1.9x cheaper ($0.08 vs $0.15 per million) and work measured by AA Intelligence Index or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 6
- Mistral Small 3 only
- 30
- Qwen3.5-9B only
- 9
- Like-for-like categories
- 4 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
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.5-9B
Qwen3.5-9B leads, 13.3 against 6.7.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.5-9B
Qwen3.5-9B takes 262K tokens against 33K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Small 3
Mistral Small 3 $0.0001, Qwen3.5-9B $0.0002 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mistral Small 3 not benchmarked, Qwen3.5-9B not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 67.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Mistral Small 3 0.0% against Qwen3.5-9B 70.0%, 70.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mistral Small 3 $0.08 against Qwen3.5-9B $0.15 per million output tokens, 1.9x apart.
- Context window
- Mistral Small 3 takes 33K tokens, Qwen3.5-9B 262K.
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 | Mistral Small 3 | Bars | Qwen3.5-9B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 6 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 23.5 | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 25.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 29.5% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 24.2% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| Terminal-Bench | Not measured | 9.2% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1246 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1248 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 6.7 | 13.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 139.3 | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 19.6% | 86.8% | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 46.2% | 80.6% | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.8% | 14.9% | Qwen3.5-9B |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 79.0% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1233 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1202 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1243 | Not measured | 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 index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 4.3 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 61.7% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1240 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1243 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 65.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1235 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1215 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1219 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1205 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 26.4% | 66.7% | Qwen3.5-9B |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 0.0% | 70.0% | Qwen3.5-9B |
| DTBench | Not measured | 71.2% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 24.5% | Only Qwen3.5-9B measured |
| LMArena Text | 1234 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1214 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1194 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1256 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1198 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1204 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1211 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1111 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1188 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1204 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1216 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1217 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1246 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1214 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1184 | Not measured | 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 | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B | 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 | Mistral Small 3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | January 30, 2025 | March 10, 2026 |
| Context window | 33K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.05 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.08 | $0.15 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mistral Small 3 better than Qwen3.5-9B for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Mistral Small 3 for output tokens 1.9x cheaper ($0.08 vs $0.15 per million) and work measured by AA Intelligence Index or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3 or Qwen3.5-9B?
Mistral Small 3 costs $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5-9B costs $0.10 and $0.15. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Small 3 or Qwen3.5-9B?
Qwen3.5-9B, with 262K tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks is the Mistral Small 3 vs Qwen3.5-9B comparison based on?
6 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Mistral Small 3's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.5-9B's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.