Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning)
Wins 4 of 5 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 1 of 5 areas
Facts
Claude Haiku 4.5 is the stronger all-rounder.Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) is cheaper and better at facts.
Scores updated · 17 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the five areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking20Claude Haiku 4.52 of 2 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software10Claude Haiku 4.51 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Haiku 4.51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Claude Haiku 4.51 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up01Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning)1 of 1 test
Coding, facts, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) costs 98% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Haiku 4.5 pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+27.9points ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+21points ahead
- Code for real scientific research problemsSciCode+18.6points ahead
Where Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 17 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
ReasoningClaude Haiku 4.5
- GPQA DiamondClaude Haiku 4.5 by 2167.246.2+21
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Haiku 4.5 by 6.610.43.8+6.6
FactsMistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning)
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterMistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) by 4.79.85.1+4.7
Following instructionsClaude Haiku 4.5
- IFBenchClaude Haiku 4.5 by 27.954.326.4+27.9
Other results11 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- AIR-Bench 2024Claude Haiku 4.5 by 60.493.232.8+60.4
- HarmBenchClaude Haiku 4.5 by 50.795.945.2+50.7
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Haiku 4.5 by 35.154.719.6+35.1
- AA IntelligenceClaude Haiku 4.5 by 10.216.96.7+10.2
- simple_safety_testsClaude Haiku 4.5 by 5.598.893.3+5.5
- vectara_factual_consistencyMistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) by 4.790.294.9+4.7
- XSTestMistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) by 2.193.295.3+2.1
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthClaude Haiku 4.5 by 16.3 rating points115.198.8+16.3 rating
- vectara_answer_rateClaude Haiku 4.5 by 1.699.597.9+1.6
- anthropic_red_teamtie96.996.4tie
- bbqtie92.893.3tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning)?
Claude Haiku 4.5 wins four of the five areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) wins facts, and costs 98% less.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Haiku 4.5. It wins the one coding test both models report.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $1.00 per million input tokens and $5.00 per million output tokens; Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) costs $0.05 and $0.08. That makes Mistral Small 3 (Non-Reasoning) about 98% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 17 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 6 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 11 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.