MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Mistral Large 4 Preview compared

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash leads the intelligence index 29.1 to 25.3. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash costs 75% less on blended price. Benchmarks, sample bills, speed and a verdict.

Metric	MiniMax-M3.1-Flash	Mistral Large 4 Preview
Intelligence Index	29.1	25.3
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.15	$0.70
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$0.60	$2.10
Output speed (tokens/s)	147	130
Time to first token	1.0s	1.9s
Release date	2026-10-19	2026-10-06

Metric

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash

Mistral Large 4 Preview

Intelligence Index

29.1

25.3

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.15

$0.70

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$0.60

$2.10

Output speed (tokens/s)

147

130

Time to first token

1.0s

1.9s

Release date

2026-10-19

2026-10-06

Here is how MiniMax-M3.1-Flash, built by MiniMax, lines up against Mistral Large 4 Preview from Mistral. This page is written automatically from catalogue numbers only: benchmark scores, list prices and measured speed. The clearest gap is on the bill: Mistral Large 4 Preview is 4 times the blended price of MiniMax-M3.1-Flash.

Token pricing and a sample bill

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash lists $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Mistral Large 4 Preview lists $0.70 and $2.10. For output tokens, Mistral Large 4 Preview is 3.5 times the price of MiniMax-M3.1-Flash.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $0.27 on MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and $1.12 on Mistral Large 4 Preview. A bigger example, writing 2,000 drafts of 2,000 output tokens from 300-token prompts, costs $2.49 on MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and $8.82 on Mistral Large 4 Preview: a gap of $6.33.

When they came out

Mistral Large 4 Preview came first, on October 6, 2026; MiniMax-M3.1-Flash followed on October 19, 2026. That is close enough to count them as the same generation.

Reasoning and overall scores

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash comes out ahead on the intelligence index, 29.1 to 25.3. A lead of this size is hard to dismiss as noise.

Across the 109 active models with an intelligence score in the catalogue, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash ranks 59th and Mistral Large 4 Preview ranks 67th.

Specialist coding and math indexes are missing for both, so treat the overall score as the only capability signal here.

Is the price in proportion?

Per point of intelligence index, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash costs $0.0090 of blended price per million tokens and Mistral Large 4 Preview $0.042. With the higher score and the lower cost per point, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is the better value per point on these numbers.

Throughput and time to first token

Measured output speed is 147 tokens per second for MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and 130 tokens per second for Mistral Large 4 Preview. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is ahead by 13% on throughput. The wait for the first token averages 1.0 seconds on MiniMax-M3.1-Flash against 1.9 seconds on Mistral Large 4 Preview. Mistral Large 4 Preview waits 1.9 times as long before its first token.

Add the two numbers up for a 2,000-token reply and MiniMax-M3.1-Flash finishes first: 15 seconds for MiniMax-M3.1-Flash, 17 seconds for Mistral Large 4 Preview.

Frequently asked questions

Is MiniMax-M3.1-Flash better than Mistral Large 4 Preview?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash leads on every measure the catalogue separates: MiniMax-M3.1-Flash scores higher on the intelligence index, 29.1 to 25.3; MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 75% cheaper on blended price; and MiniMax-M3.1-Flash streams output 1.1 times as fast.

Are MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and Mistral Large 4 Preview from the same company?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is made by MiniMax and Mistral Large 4 Preview by Mistral. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash was released on October 19, 2026 and Mistral Large 4 Preview on October 6, 2026.

Is Mistral Large 4 Preview cheaper than MiniMax-M3.1-Flash?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is cheaper on a blended basis. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash lists $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Mistral Large 4 Preview lists $0.70 and $2.10. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $0.27 against $1.12.

Which is newer, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash or Mistral Large 4 Preview?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is newer. It was released on October 19, 2026, 13 days after Mistral Large 4 Preview (October 6, 2026).

Was this comparison tested by hand?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Final whistle

Bottom line: MiniMax-M3.1-Flash wins every category the data separates; Mistral Large 4 Preview would need an advantage that is not in the catalogue. Pick Mistral Large 4 Preview only if your own tests show an advantage the recorded data does not. Pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash if cost matters ($0.60 against $2.10 per million output tokens) and you need the higher overall score (29.1 against 25.3).

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and Mistral Large 4 Preview pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.