High-volume, cost-sensitive work
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini
GPT-4.1 Mini costs 7% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($0.70 against $0.75 per million tokens).
GPT-4.1 Mini vs Mistral Large 4: price, context and capabilities
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini for high-volume, cost-sensitive work. Choose Mistral Large 4 for writing and code generation, reasoning over long documents, self-hosting and data control and the latest release.
In short
- GPT-4.1 Mini is 7% cheaper than Mistral Large 4 at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.75 / 1M tokens).
- GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
- Mistral Large 4 is the newer model (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025).
- Only GPT-4.1 Mini offers prompt caching, batch api.
- Only Mistral Large 4 offers self-hostable.
Which should you choose?
Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.
Writing and code generation
Choose Mistral Large 4
Mistral Large 4 charges $1.50 per million output tokens, against $1.60 for GPT-4.1 Mini. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.
Reasoning over long documents
Choose Mistral Large 4
Mistral Large 4 scores 81.3% on Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR), against 44% for GPT-4.1 Mini.
Self-hosting and data control
Choose Mistral Large 4
Mistral Large 4 has open weights, so you can run it on your own servers; GPT-4.1 Mini is only available through its provider.
Latest release
Choose Mistral Large 4
Mistral Large 4 is the newer release (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025 for GPT-4.1 Mini).
Monthly cost at three volumes
| Volume | GPT-4.1 Mini | Mistral Large 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens | $0.80 | $0.88 | GPT-4.1 Mini, $0.08 less |
| Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens | $16.00 | $17.50 | GPT-4.1 Mini, $1.50 less |
| Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens | $360.00 | $400.00 | GPT-4.1 Mini, $40.00 less |
Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.
Specifications side by side
| GPT-4.1 Mini | Mistral Large 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Mistral AI |
| Category | Language models | Language models |
| Status | Deprecated | Preview |
| Headline price | $0.70 / 1M tokens | $0.75 / 1M tokens |
| Input | $0.40 / 1M tokens | $0.50 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $1.60 / 1M tokens | $1.50 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.10 / 1M tokens | No data |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 33k | No data |
| Released | Apr 14, 2025 | October 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | June 2024 | No data |
| Licence | Proprietary | Open weights |
| Capabilities | Vision, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API | Vision, Tool calling, Structured output, Self-hostable |
| API model id | gpt-4.1-mini | mistral-large-4 |
Benchmarks side by side
Leader in bold.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Mini | Mistral Large 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Humanity's Last Exam | 5% | 35% |
| MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) | 58.7% | 76.4% |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 44% | 81.3% |
| Terminal-Bench Hard | 7.6% | No data |
| GPQA Diamond | 66.4% | No data |
| IFBench (instruction following) | 38.3% | No data |
| τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) | 52.9% | No data |
| Intelligence Index | No data | 38.4 |
| SciCode | No data | 54.2% |
Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose GPT-4.1 Mini or Mistral Large 4?
Choose GPT-4.1 Mini for high-volume, cost-sensitive work. Choose Mistral Large 4 for writing and code generation, reasoning over long documents, self-hosting and data control and the latest release.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 Mini or Mistral Large 4?
GPT-4.1 Mini is 7% cheaper than Mistral Large 4 at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.75 / 1M tokens).
Which has the larger context window, GPT-4.1 Mini or Mistral Large 4?
GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M.
What is the difference between GPT-4.1 Mini and Mistral Large 4?
GPT-4.1 Mini is made by OpenAI and Mistral Large 4 by Mistral AI. GPT-4.1 Mini is 7% cheaper than Mistral Large 4 at the headline price ($0.70 / 1M tokens vs $0.75 / 1M tokens). GPT-4.1 Mini reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1M. Mistral Large 4 is the newer model (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025). Only GPT-4.1 Mini offers prompt caching, batch api. Only Mistral Large 4 offers self-hostable.
How much do GPT-4.1 Mini and Mistral Large 4 cost per month?
At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, GPT-4.1 Mini costs $16.00 and Mistral Large 4 costs $17.50, at standard rates.
Which is newer, GPT-4.1 Mini or Mistral Large 4?
Mistral Large 4 was released on October 2026 and GPT-4.1 Mini on Apr 14, 2025.