🔥 Limited time: Pro lifetime access $29 — price goes up July 12 →

GPT-5.4 nano vs Mistral Small 4 — Cheapest AI Pricing

Mistral Small 4 is 50% cheaper on input ($0.10 vs $0.20). Compare the two cheapest AI models available today.

Pricing data verified: Jun 27, 2026

Cheapest Input
Mistral Small 4
$0.10 vs $0.20 per 1M tokens
Best Context
GPT-5.4 nano
400K vs 128K tokens
Cheapest Output
Mistral Small 4
$0.30 vs $1.25 per 1M tokens

All Budget Models Compared

The cheapest AI models from major providers, ranked by input price.

ModelProviderTierInput (per 1M)Output (per 1M)Context
Mistral Small 4 Mistral Budget $0.10 $0.30 128K
GPT-5.4 nano OpenAI Budget $0.20 $1.25 400K
DeepSeek V4 Flash DeepSeek Budget $0.14 $0.28 1M
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Google Budget $0.10 $0.40 1M
Llama 3.1 8B Meta Budget $0.10 $0.10 128K

Calculate Your Exact Costs

See how these ultra-budget models compare for your specific usage.

vs
OpenAI
GPT-5.4 nano
$0.00
per month
Input cost$0.00
Output cost$0.00
Per request$0.00
Mistral
Mistral Small 4
$0.00
per month
Input cost$0.00
Output cost$0.00
Per request$0.00
Enter your usage above to see savings.

Which Should You Choose?

High-Volume Classification

Sorting emails, tagging content, sentiment analysis at massive scale.

Pick Mistral Small 4: At $0.10 input, it's 50% cheaper. At 50K requests/day: $450 vs $900/month for GPT-5.4 nano.

Data Extraction

Parsing documents, extracting structured data from text.

Pick Mistral Small 4: 50% cheaper input with sufficient capability for extraction tasks. Huge savings at scale.

Long Document Processing

Processing large documents, legal contracts, research papers.

Pick GPT-5.4 nano: 400K context (3x more than Mistral's 128K). Essential for processing long documents without chunking.

Chatbot at Scale

Customer support bots handling thousands of conversations daily.

Pick Mistral Small 4: 50% cheaper on input, 76% cheaper on output. At 10K requests/day with 500 output tokens: $450 vs $1,875/month.

Code Suggestions

Quick code completions, inline suggestions, autocomplete.

Pick GPT-5.4 nano: 400K context handles full codebase context. OpenAI ecosystem integration for IDE plugins.

Cost-Sensitive MVP

Early-stage startup, keeping API costs near zero while validating.

Pick Mistral Small 4: Lowest cost per token in the market. Build and validate your MVP for under $10/month.

Save More with APIpulse Pro

Get personalized cost optimization recommendations for your specific workload.

Save scenarios — compare up to 10 configs
Export reports — PDF cost analysis
Optimization tips — save up to 40%
Get Pro — $29

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GPT-5.4 nano or Mistral Small 4 cheaper?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper. It costs $0.10/$0.30 per 1M tokens while GPT-5.4 nano costs $0.20/$1.25. That's 50% cheaper on input and 76% cheaper on output. At 1M tokens/month, Mistral Small 4 costs $0.40 vs GPT-5.4 nano's $1.45.

What is the context window difference?

GPT-5.4 nano has a 400K token context window, while Mistral Small 4 has a 128K token context window. GPT-5.4 nano supports 3x more context, which matters for longer documents and conversations.

GPT-5.4 nano vs Mistral Small 4 for enterprise?

For enterprise bulk processing, Mistral Small 4 at $0.10 input offers the lowest cost per token. GPT-5.4 nano at $0.20 input provides 3x more context (400K vs 128K). Choose Mistral for cost-sensitive bulk tasks, GPT-5.4 nano for tasks needing larger context.

How do these compare to DeepSeek V4 Flash?

DeepSeek V4 Flash at $0.14/$0.28 is cheapest overall for balanced workloads. Mistral Small 4 ($0.10/$0.30) is cheaper on input but slightly more on output. GPT-5.4 nano ($0.20/$1.25) is most expensive but offers 400K context.

Can I switch between them easily?

Yes. Both use standard OpenAI-compatible API formats. Mistral's API is compatible with OpenAI SDKs, so switching typically requires only changing the base URL and API key. Migration takes minutes.

Share This Comparison

Related Comparisons

GPT-5.4 mini vs Haiku 4.5 →
Budget model comparison
GPT-5.4 vs Sonnet 4.6 →
Mid-tier model comparison

Stop guessing — get exact costs for every model

Pro gives you 48-model comparison, migration code snippets, PDF reports, and personalized optimization tips.

Get Pro — $29 lifetime

✅ 14-day money-back guarantee · ⚡ Instant access · 🔒 One-time payment