Gemini Nano 2 vs Mistral Small 3
On-device first. Free inference, private by default. Meanwhile, mistral small 3: small, open-weights, surprisingly sharp.
Side-by-side
Specs
| Dimension | Gemini Nano 2 | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Mistral |
| Released | 2025-11 | 2025-09 |
| Context window | 32K | ✓128K |
| Output max | 4K | ✓8K |
| Input /M | ✓Free | $0.20 |
| Output /M | ✓Free | $0.60 |
| Modalities | text | text |
| Open weights | no | ✓yes |
Scorecard
Dimension-by-dimension
Gemini Nano 2
Mistral Small 3
reasoning
5.0
6.0
coding
4.0
7.0
writing
6.0
7.0
speed
10.0
9.0
value
10.0
10.0
Verdict
Which wins, by use case
| Use case | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| coding | Mistral Small 3 | a decisive lead on our weighted coding score |
| writing | Mistral Small 3 | a clear edge on our weighted writing score |
| chat | Gemini Nano 2 | a coin flip on our weighted chat score |
| agents | Mistral Small 3 | a clear edge on our weighted agents score |
| summarization | Gemini Nano 2 | a coin flip on our weighted summarization score |
| translation | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted translation score |
| reasoning | Mistral Small 3 | a clear edge on our weighted reasoning score |
| research | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted research score |
| vision and multimodal | Mistral Small 3 | a coin flip on our weighted vision score |
| Cheapest AI models for bulk workloads | Gemini Nano 2 | a coin flip on our weighted cheap-bulk score |
Bottom line
Our take
Pick Gemini Nano 2 if you need: free on-device inference, private by design.
Pick Mistral Small 3 if you need: tiny cost, open weights.
At a 500M-input / 150M-output monthly volume, Gemini Nano 2 costs roughly $0 vs Mistral Small 3 at $190. Use our calculator to plug in your own numbers.
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