Magistral was Mistral AI's first family of reasoning models, released in June 2025, which think step by step before answering.
In plain words
Reasoning models work through a problem in visible steps before giving the final answer. Magistral came in two versions: Magistral Small, a 24-billion-parameter open model, and the more powerful Magistral Medium for businesses. Mistral stressed reasoning you can follow and check, and reasoning in languages other than English. Every Magistral version has since been retired from Mistral's API; Mistral lists Mistral Small 4 and Mistral Medium 3.5 as replacements, and Small 4 now covers Magistral's reasoning role.
A quick example
Imagine asking Magistral a multi-step physics puzzle in French. It would write out its chain of steps in French before the answer, so you can check each one.
Where you'll meet it
- Multi-step work such as legal research, financial forecasting and software planning, before retirement.
Related
Sources
- DocsMagistral, Mistral AI · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsModels overview, Mistral AI docs · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsIntroducing Mistral Small 4, Mistral AI · read 29 Sept 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 29 Sept 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.