What is the difference between Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Mistral Small 4?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is developed by Anthropic while Mistral Small 4 is developed by Mistral AI. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a 200K token context window vs Mistral Small 4's 262K. You can compare their actual outputs across 42 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Mistral Small 4?

It depends on your use case. Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Mistral Small 4 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 42 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude Sonnet 4.5 cost compared to Mistral Small 4?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3/M input tokens and Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/M input tokens. Mistral Small 4 is $2.85/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Mistral Small 4 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Mistral Small 4 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output, and Pro users can create custom challenges to test both models with their own prompts.

Rival

Updated Mar 16, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.5vsMistral Small 4

37 fights queued

Why Claude Sonnet 4.5?

Dead even. This one's a coin flip.

Why Mistral Small 4?

24.3x cheaper overall$0.15/M in · $0.60/M out

1.3x more context262K

6 months newerMar 2026

Favorites

Claude Sonnet 4.5Mistral Small 4

Movie

2001: A Space Odyssey

19688.1

The Dark Knight

20088.5

Album

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

OK Computer

Radiohead

Book

Die Verwandlung

Franz Kafka

Братья Карамазовы

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский

City

Amsterdam

Netherlands

Kyoto

Japan

Game

Portal 2

Shooter, Puzzle4.6

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, Action4.5

6 / 37

Estimate Complexityreasoning

Tests an AI's ability to make educated estimates based on technical knowledge

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026text

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Vote

2 / 37

AI Board Game Logicreasoning

Tests an AI's ability to understand game rules and strategy

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026svg

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Vote

3 / 37

Logic Puzzlereasoning

Tests an AI's ability to solve a simple but potentially confusing logic puzzle

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026text

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Vote

4 / 37

Stochastic Consistency Testanalysis

Tests an AI's randomness and creativity

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026text

Here are five jokes for you:

Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts.
Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field!
What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta!
Why can’t you explain puns to kleptomaniacs? Because they always take things literally.
Why did the math book look sad? Because it had too many problems.

Unique Count:

All five jokes are unique—none of them are repeated.

Would you like jokes on a specific topic? 😊

Try this prompt

Vote

5 / 37

SVG Layout Challengeimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to generate vector graphics

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026svg

Try this prompt

Vote

6 / 37

Xbox Controller SVG Artimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to create detailed SVG illustrations of gaming hardware

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

Nothing here. The model returned empty. We stared at it for a while.

Try this prompt

Mistral Small 4

Mistral · Mar 2026svg

Try this prompt

Vote

This matchup has more rounds

31+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

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Find Your Model

Static demos are useful. Your prompt matters more.

Run this matchup on your actual task. 30 seconds. No card.

Can you tell Claude from GPT?

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Take the blind test

Our Verdict

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Mistral Small 4Runner-up

No community votes yet. On paper, Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the edge — bigger model tier, major provider backing.

Mistral Small 4 is 25x cheaper per token — worth considering if cost matters.

Too close to call

These are our prompts. Yours will tell you more.

Run Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Mistral Small 4 on your actual task. 5 free credits. No card.

Test with your prompt

FAQ

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Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Mistral Small 4

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Mistral Small 4?