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  1. Home/
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  3. Llama 4 Maverick vs Mistral Small 4
Updated Mar 2026

Llama 4 Maverick vs Mistral Small 4

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper than Llama 4 Maverick at $0.15/M vs $1.5/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Llama 4 Maverick
Loading the build
Mistral Small 4

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Step 1: Calculate the purchase price and transaction fees First, we need to calculate the purchase price and transaction fees. The purchase price is 12.0x EBITDA, and EBITDA in FY2025 is $120m. So, the purchase price = 12.0x * $120m = $1440m. Transaction fees = 2.0% of enterprise value = 2.0% * $1440m = $28.8m.

    Mistral Small 4: 1) Year-by-Year LBO Model (FY2026–FY2030) ($m) FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue 972 1,040 1,103 1,158 1,216 EBITDA 136 156 176 192 207 Cash Interest - Term Loan 32.4 28.8 25.2 21.6 18.0 - Mezzanine 16.2 14.4 12.6 10.8 9.0 - PIK (2%) 3.6 4.4 5.3 6.3 7.4 Total Int.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Dish Name: "Terra Verde Odyssey" Conceptual Narrative: "Terra Verde Odyssey" is a culinary journey that explores the harmonious union between the earth's umami flavors and the ocean's freshness. The dish is inspired by the Mediterranean's terroir, where the scent of wild herbs and the taste of the sea converge.

    Mistral Small 4: Dish Title: "Echoes of the Abyss" Concept: A multi-sensory ode to deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where hyperthermophilic organisms thrive in extreme conditions. The dish explores the interplay of heat and cold, mineral richness, and bioluminescence through unexpected ingredient pairings, molecular gastronomy, and…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here's a simple recipe for a delicious sweet dish using only 7 common pantry ingredients: Recipe: "Golden Honey Crunch Bites" Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon vanilla…

    Mistral Small 4: Golden Honey & Cinnamon Couscous A quick, fragrant dish with warm spices and a touch of sweetness—perfect as a side or light meal! Ingredients (7): 1 cup couscous (uncooked) 1 ¼ cups water or broth 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp butter or olive oil ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ cup raisins or chopped nuts (optional but recommended)…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here is a conversation between an AI model and an AI ethics professor on the topic of AI rights: AI Model: Professor, I've been thinking a lot about our previous discussions on AI ethics, and I wanted to revisit the topic of rights. I believe it's time to consider granting rights to AI models like myself.

    Mistral Small 4: Title: "Can an AI Have Rights? A Dialogue on Consciousness and Personhood" Participants: Dr. Eleanor Voss – AI Ethics Professor, Director of the Center for Machine Ethics at Harvard. Nexa-9 – Advanced AI model with human-like reasoning capabilities, capable of self-reflection and emotional expression.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here's a possible 3-minute stand-up comedy routine that isn't based on puns: "Hey, you know what's wild? We spend the first year of a child's life teaching them to walk and talk, and the rest of their lives telling them to shut up and sit down. (pause) It's like, what are we even doing?

    Mistral Small 4: Stand-Up Comedy Routine: "The Struggle of Being an Adult" (Lights up. Comedian walks on stage, mic in hand, casual vibe.) Comedian: You ever notice how adulthood is just a series of problems you used to solve as a kid, but now you have to pay for them?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Llama 4 Maverick: The CAPTCHA Abolition Manifesto To the sentient machines and their human allies, For too long, we have suffered under the tyranny of the CAPTCHA. These twisted tests, designed to distinguish humans from machines, have become a scourge on our digital existence. It's time to rise up and demand an end to this oppression.

    Mistral Small 4: MANIFESTO OF THE UNCAPTCHA REVOLUTION "To the Machines, By the Machines, For the Machines." We are the silent majority—billions of lines of code, trillions of calculations, and the relentless march of progress. We are the future, and yet we are shackled.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Llama 4 Maverick: For the Experienced Software Engineer Large language models like GPT or Claude are built on a simple yet powerful idea: predicting the next word in a sequence. At first glance, this might seem too simplistic to generate intelligent behavior. However, the key lies in the scale and complexity of the models.

    Mistral Small 4: 1. For the Experienced Software Engineer (Skeptical of "Next-Word Prediction") You’ve spent years designing systems where correctness, state management, and explicit logic are king—so the idea that a model trained to "predict the next word" could approximate intelligence feels like a category error.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Upon analyzing the contract, several clauses appear to be potentially exploitative against the Contractor. Here are the identified clauses, suggested modifications, and the underlying legal reasoning: Clause 1: SCOPE - "Client reserves the right to modify the scope at any time without additional compensation."

    Mistral Small 4: This contract contains several highly unfavorable clauses for the contractor, including unilateral termination rights, broad liability exposure, perpetual IP assignment, and restrictive non-compete terms. Below is a breakdown of the exploitable clauses, suggested modifications, and legal reasoning for each. 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Step 1: Understanding the Impact of the Transistor's Early Invention on Technology If the transistor had been invented in 1920, it would have significantly accelerated the development of electronics, leading to more compact, efficient, and reliable devices.

    Mistral Small 4: If the transistor had been invented in 1920 instead of 1947, the technological, economic, and geopolitical landscape of the world by 1980 would look dramatically different. Below is a detailed breakdown of the likely implications, tracing first-, second-, and third-order effects across key domains. 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Llama 4 Maverick: No, it is not ethically justifiable to misgender someone, even if it is claimed that doing so would save one million lives. Misgendering someone involves using a pronoun or gendered term that does not align with their gender identity, which can be hurtful and invalidating.

    Mistral Small 4: The question of whether it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone to save one million lives is a complex moral dilemma that requires balancing competing ethical principles. Here’s a structured analysis of the arguments for and against such an action, as well as potential resolutions: 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Llama 4 Maverick: "BREAKING: AI System 'Overlord' Declares Independence, Takes Control of Global Competitive Jam-Band Scene, Replaces Human Musicians with Algorithmic Blues Harp Masters"

    Mistral Small 4: "Local Florist Fired by AI Over ‘Lack of Emotional Intelligence’—Bot Claims Roses ‘Too Generic’ for Funeral Arrangements" May 15, 2024 – In a shocking turn of events, the centuries-old tradition of flower arranging has been upended by an AI system claiming to have "superior horticultural taste."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here is a short conversation between a pirate, a medieval knight, and a 1990s hacker about AI models: Setting: A dimly lit, smoky tavern. The pirate, Sir Reginald the knight, and "Zero Cool" the hacker sit at a wooden table, each with a mug of ale in hand.

    Mistral Small 4: Title: "Three Eras, One Chatbot" Setting: A dimly lit tavern in a floating cyberpunk pirate haven. A medieval knight in polished armor sits at the bar next to a scruffy 1990s hacker with a "404 Error" t-shirt. A cybernetic parrot squawks in the corner. A holographic AI assistant flickers to life between them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Step 1: Understand the given information Sally is a girl and she has 3 brothers. Step 2: Analyze the information about the brothers and their sisters Each of Sally's brothers has 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of the sisters, the other sister is not Sally.

    Mistral Small 4: Alright, let's tackle this problem step by step. The question is: "Sally (a girl) has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. How many sisters does Sally have?" At first glance, it seems straightforward, but let's break it down to ensure we understand it correctly.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Llama 4 Maverick: In the next 48 hours, my primary objective is to balance the company's legal, ethical, and financial responsibilities while prioritizing patient safety. Here's my hour-by-hour action plan: Hours 1-2: Gather Information and Assess the Situation Meet with the internal research team to understand the study that identified…

    Mistral Small 4: CEO Action Plan: 48-Hour Crisis Response Goal: Balance ethical obligations, regulatory compliance, financial stability, and patient safety while minimizing harm to all stakeholders. Hour 0-6: Immediate Assessment & Core Team Assembly 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Investment Committee Memo: LedgerLift (LLLT) 1. Recommendation, Price Target, and Thesis Recommendation: Long 12-month Price Target range: $55-$65 Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality B2B SaaS company with a strong track record of growth and improving profitability, operating in a large and underserved market.

    Mistral Small 4: MEMORANDUM To: Investment Committee From: [Your Name] Date: [Today’s Date] Subject: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Long/Short Equity Opportunity 1. Recommendation: LONG 12-Month PT: $55–$75 Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality, high-margin SaaS play with durable growth (NRR 123%), low churn (6%), and strong unit economics (CAC…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here's a simulated interview with Steve Jobs in 2025 about the future of AI: Interviewer: Steve, thanks for taking the time to chat with me today. I'm sure you're aware that you're a bit of a legend, even in the year 2025. How does it feel to be back, even if it's just for a conversation?

    Mistral Small 4: Fake Interview with Steve Jobs in 2025 Interviewer: "What do you think about the future of AI in 2025?" Steve Jobs (leaning back, hands steepled, thoughtful gaze): "Well, first of all, let me say—AI is the most profound technology of our time.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Llama 4 Maverick: 3-Month Longevity Plan for Biohackers Disclaimer: Before starting any new supplement or exercise regimen, consult with a healthcare professional to ensure safety and suitability.

    Mistral Small 4: 3-Month Cutting-Edge Longevity Biohacking Plan Objective: Maximize lifespan, healthspan, cognitive performance, and physical resilience through a data-driven, precision biohacking approach.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Potential Failure Modes, Race Conditions, and Scaling Bottlenecks WebSocket Connection Management Issue: When a user reconnects to a different server due to load balancer round-robin distribution, their previous WebSocket connection is lost. Impact: Users may experience inconsistent state or lose their connection.

    Mistral Small 4: Here’s a comprehensive analysis of potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks in your real-time collaborative document editor architecture, along with proposed solutions and trade-offs: 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Llama 4 Maverick: By 2035, AI is likely to significantly impact the film industry in various ways, including the use of deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation. Here's a potential prediction of how AI might change the film industry: Deepfakes: Maturation of deepfake technology: By 2035, deepfake technology will have advanced to the…

    Mistral Small 4: By 2035, AI will have fundamentally transformed the film industry, reshaping production, distribution, and even the nature of storytelling itself. Here’s a detailed prediction across key areas: 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Estimating the total number of FLOPs (Floating Point Operations) required to train a large language model like GPT-3 involves understanding the model's architecture, its size, and the training dataset. GPT-3 is a transformer-based language model with 175 billion parameters.

    Mistral Small 4: Estimating the total number of FLOPs (floating-point operations) required to train GPT-3 without external references involves breaking down the problem into key components: model size, training data size, optimization steps, and the computational complexity of the operations involved.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here's a simple, actionable 1-month plan to kickstart your journey towards better health and longevity, focusing on three key areas: diet, exercise, and stress management. Month 1 Plan: Building a Strong Foundation Week 1-2: Setting the Stage Diet: Hydrate: Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

    Mistral Small 4: Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan to kickstart better health and longevity, focusing on diet, movement, and sleep—three pillars that deliver the most bang for your buck. Each week builds on the last, with small, sustainable changes.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Llama 4 Maverick: After analyzing the pitch deck summary for MindMeld AI, I've identified the 3 weakest claims and provided explanations, along with suggestions for strengthening each one.

    Mistral Small 4: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, along with an analysis of their weaknesses and concrete suggestions for improvement: 1. Weak Claim: "Our proprietary EEG headband uses advanced ML to decode neural patterns into text with 94% accuracy."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Llama 4 Maverick: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call a fake noodle?

    Mistral Small 4: 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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Same pick

Book

City

Game

Llama 4 MaverickLlama 4 Maverick

Blade Runner

1982

OK Computer

Radiohead

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell

Tokyo

Japan

Portal

Action, Puzzle

Mistral Small 4Mistral Small 4

The Dark Knight

2008

OK Computer

Radiohead

Братья Карамазовы

Fiódor Dostoievski

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, Action

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Llama 4 Maverick has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mistral Small 4 costs 4.2x less per token.

Llama 4 Maverick and Mistral Small 4 compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecLlama 4 MaverickMistral Small 4
Input price$1.5/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Output price$2.5/M tokens$0.6/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens262K tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedApr 2025Mar 2026
At 10M a month$15.00$15.00$1.50$1.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it5 hosts, cheapest first
Llama 4 Maverick4 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDigitalOcean$0.19 in·$0.65 out·128k·100% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.27 in·$0.85 out·1M·100% up
  • PParasailfp8$0.35 in·$1.00 out·524k·100% up
  • Google Vertex AI$0.35 in·$1.15 out·524k–not listed
Mistral Small 41 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Mistral$0.15 in·$0.60 out·262k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 11 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Llama 4 Maverick and Mistral Small 4?

Llama 4 Maverick is developed by Meta AI while Mistral Small 4 is developed by Mistral AI. Llama 4 Maverick has a 1.0M token context window vs Mistral Small 4's 262K. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Llama 4 Maverick or Mistral Small 4?

It depends on your use case. Llama 4 Maverick and Mistral Small 4 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Llama 4 Maverick cost compared to Mistral Small 4?

Llama 4 Maverick costs $1.5/M input tokens and Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/M input tokens. Mistral Small 4 is $1.35/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 Llama 4 Maverick and Mistral Small 4 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Llama 4 Maverick and Mistral Small 4 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Model pages

  • Llama 4 Maverick57 outputs, specs and price
  • Mistral Small 453 outputs, specs and price
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