ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Mistral Medium 3 vs Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 60 to 53 and 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3

    Released May 7, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI134.1
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3

  3. Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2

    Released Oct 22, 2024

    44/100
    • ECI133.5
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2
01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (44). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4.1 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 · Mistral Medium 3 134.1 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 200,000 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 mini and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniMistral Medium 3Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%595857
Price25%575413
Inputs & features15%705060
Context window10%612432
Overall100%60/10053/10044/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4.1 mini vs Mistral Medium 3 vs Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIMistral Medium 3Mistral AIClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0 (best)134.1133.5
ECI rank#115 of 148 (best)#117 of 148#119 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9% (best)59.5%55.3%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7% (best)32.2%8.5%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.40 (best)$3.00
Output$1.60 (best)$2.00$15.00
Cached input$0.10——
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$0.80$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens200,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens131,072 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoYes
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-4.1-minimistral-medium-2505—
API providers24 (best)51
ReleasedApr 14, 2025May 7, 2025Oct 22, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024May 2025Apr 30, 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • Mistral Medium 3$8.00
  • Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 or Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (44). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 or Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (1.1× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (8.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4.1 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148), Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5 (#119 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (131.2–136.6 vs 130.5–135.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, Mistral Medium 3 59.5%, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 55.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%, Mistral Medium 3 32.2%, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 8.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4.1 mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 and 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images; Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Mistral Medium 3 is the newest, released May 7, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 came out Oct 22, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 2025, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 Apr 30, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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