Apertus 70B vs Mistral Large 3
Mistral Large 3 comes out ahead, 50 to 33 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Swiss AI
Apertus 70B
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.82 / $2.42
- Context66K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMistral Large 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Mistral Large 3 is our pick
Mistral Large 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Apertus 70B (33). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceMistral Large 3Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Apertus 70B $1.22 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMistral Large 3Mistral Large 3 262,144 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsMistral Large 3Apertus 70B: Text · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Apertus 70B | Mistral Large 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 46 | 56 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 12 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 33/100 | 50/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Apertus 70BSwiss AI | Mistral Large 3Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.82 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $2.42 | $1.50 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.05 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.22 | $0.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Open |
| API model ID | — | mistral-large-2512 |
| API providers | 3 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Sep 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2025 | Nov 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Apertus 70B$13.04
- Mistral Large 3$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Apertus 70B or Mistral Large 3?
Mistral Large 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Apertus 70B (33). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Apertus 70B or Mistral Large 3?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Apertus 70B costs $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Mistral Large 3 versus $1.22 for Apertus 70B (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Apertus 70B has not been scored yet and Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 70B and Mistral Large 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Mistral Large 3 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 70B up to 8,192, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Apertus 70B accepts text; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images. Mistral Large 3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Mistral Large 3 is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 70B Sep 2025, Mistral Large 3 Nov 2024.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
