API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewMistral Large 4 vs Solar Mini 4

Pick Solar Mini 4 for lower cost; pick Mistral Large 4 only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated:  Data confirmed:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Solar Mini 4 for lower cost; pick Mistral Large 4 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $1.73 for Mistral Large 4, saving $1.58 (91.3% lower).

Cost-first pickSolar Mini 4
Context-first pickMistral Large 4
Sample savings$1.5891.3%
10x traffic gap$15.75

Mistral Large 4 has more context, but Solar Mini 4 saves $1.58 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $15.75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Solar Mini 4 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickMistral Large 4Solar Mini 4
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputSolar Mini 4$4.45$0.35
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputSolar Mini 4$2.77$0.25
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputSolar Mini 4$11.13$1.05
Cheaper input Solar Mini 4 $0.68 vs $0.05 / 1M

Solar Mini 4 is $0.63 cheaper per 1M input tokens (92.6% lower; 13.6x difference).

Cheaper output Solar Mini 4 $2.09 vs $0.2 / 1M

Solar Mini 4 is $1.89 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90.4% lower; 10.4x difference).

Larger context Mistral Large 4 1.05M vs 524.29K

Mistral Large 4 has 524.29K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Solar Mini 4 $1.73 vs $0.15

Solar Mini 4 is $1.58 cheaper on the standard workload (91.3% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Mistral Large 4 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Solar Mini 4 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Solar Mini 4 has the lower input price; Solar Mini 4 has the lower output price; Mistral Large 4 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Solar Mini 4 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1.73 for Mistral Large 4 and $0.15 for Solar Mini 4.

Best Fit

Choose Mistral Large 4 when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Solar Mini 4 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $1.73 for Mistral Large 4, saving $1.58 (91.3% lower).
  • Solar Mini 4 is $1.58 cheaper on the standard workload (91.3% lower).
  • Solar Mini 4 is $0.63 cheaper per 1M input tokens (92.6% lower; 13.6x difference).
  • Solar Mini 4 is $1.89 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90.4% lower; 10.4x difference).
  • Mistral Large 4 has 524.29K more context (2x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureNewMistral Large 4
(Mistral)		Solar Mini 4
(Upstage)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$0.68$0.05
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$2.09$0.2
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$1.73$0.15
Context Window1.05M524.29K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionSolar Mini 4On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $1.73 for Mistral Large 4, saving $1.58 (91.3% lower).
High-volume input processingSolar Mini 4Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsSolar Mini 4Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workMistral Large 4A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • Mistral Nemo can replace Mistral Large 4 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.04.
  • Mistral Small 3 can replace Mistral Large 4 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
  • Ministral 3 8B 2512 (batch) can replace Mistral Large 4 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.11.
  • Ministral 3 3B 2512 can replace Mistral Large 4 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
Larger context near this budget
  • Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.47 sample workload cost.
  • MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
  • GPT-6 Luna offers 1.05M context with $0.35 sample workload cost.
  • GPT-6 Luna Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.35 sample workload cost.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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Mistral catalog

Review all tracked Mistral models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Upstage catalog

Check other Upstage models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Upstage models
Mistral Large 4

Mistral Large 4 is a frontier multimodal (text and image input) model from Mistral AI built for reasoning, coding, and agentic workloads. It offers a 1M-token context window with up...

Solar Mini 4

Solar Mini 4 is Upstage's compact, cost-efficient language model, a 35B-parameter mixture-of-experts with 3B active parameters and a 524K context window. It is built for agentic use cases where response...