Mistral Small 4 vs Sonar Deep Research
Mistral Small 4 costs 13.3x less per output token than Sonar Deep Research ($0.60 vs $8.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; no benchmark has tested both models yet.
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $0.60
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $8.00
Mistral Small 4 or Sonar Deep Research: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Mistral Small 4 for output tokens 13.3x cheaper ($0.60 vs $8.00 per million) and a larger context window (262K against 128K tokens).
No benchmark has tested both yet. Mistral Small 4 has results on AA Coding Index, Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) and SciCode; Sonar Deep Research has none yet. Compare them on price and context instead.
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
No call
Only Mistral Small 4 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 11.3.
Directional only
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Mistral Small 4 has a AA Agentic Index result, 0.8.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Mistral Small 4
Mistral Small 4 takes 262K tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Small 4
Mistral Small 4 $0.0004, Sonar Deep Research $0.0060 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mistral Small 4 not benchmarked, Sonar Deep Research not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- None yet: no category has been tested on both models.
- Widest single gap
- None yet: no benchmark has tested both models.
- Output price
- Mistral Small 4 $0.60 against Sonar Deep Research $8.00 per million output tokens, 13.3x apart.
- Context window
- Mistral Small 4 takes 262K tokens, Sonar Deep Research 128K.
Benchmark by benchmark
Every board either model has a result on, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale. Only one model is measured on each, so no row names a leader.
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index5 boards measured
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 4 | Sonar Deep Research | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | 26.6 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| SciCode | 38.8% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 17.4% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 497.6 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 4 | Sonar Deep Research | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 11.3 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 4 | Sonar Deep Research | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 0.8 | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards measured
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 4 | Sonar Deep Research | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 76.9% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 9.9% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 40.5% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards measured
| Benchmark | Mistral Small 4 | Sonar Deep Research | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 48.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 49.7% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| DTBench | 70.9% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| LMCA | 20.6% | Not measured | Only Mistral Small 4 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 42 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 4 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mistral Small 4 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mistral Small 4 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 4 | Perplexity Sonar Deep Research |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | Perplexity |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | March 16, 2026 | March 7, 2025 |
| Context window | 262K | 128K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $8.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mistral Small 4 better than Sonar Deep Research for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Mistral Small 4 for output tokens 13.3x cheaper ($0.60 vs $8.00 per million) and a larger context window (262K against 128K tokens).
Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 4 or Sonar Deep Research?
Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Sonar Deep Research costs $2.00 and $8.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Small 4 or Sonar Deep Research?
Mistral Small 4, with 262K tokens against 128K.
Has any benchmark tested both Mistral Small 4 and Sonar Deep Research?
No benchmark has tested both yet. Mistral Small 4 has results on AA Coding Index, Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) and SciCode; Sonar Deep Research has none yet. Compare them on price and context instead. Data as of October 21, 2026.