ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5 Nano vs Mistral Medium 3

GPT-5 Nano comes out ahead, 70 to 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5 Nano

    Released Aug 7, 2025

    70/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5 Nano

  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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-5 Nano is our pick

GPT-5 Nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5 NanoCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5 Nano 139.4 · Mistral Medium 3 134.1
  • Lowest priceGPT-5 NanoGPT-5 Nano $0.138 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5 NanoGPT-5 Nano 400,000 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-5 Nano: Text, Images · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5 NanoMistral Medium 3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6558
Price25%9154
Inputs & features15%7050
Context window10%4424
Overall100%70/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-5 Nano vs Mistral Medium 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5 NanoOpenAIMistral Medium 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.4 (best)134.1
ECI rank#102 of 148 (best)#117 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions69.4% (best)59.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics20.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics81.1% (best)32.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions11.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.40
Output$0.40 (best)$2.00
Cached input$0.005—
Blended (3:1)$0.138 (best)$0.80
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-5-nanomistral-medium-2505
API providers21 (best)5
ReleasedAug 7, 2025May 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 30, 2024May 2025
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-5 Nano$1.30
  • Mistral Medium 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5 Nano or Mistral Medium 3?

GPT-5 Nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5 Nano or Mistral Medium 3?

GPT-5 Nano is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for GPT-5 Nano versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (5.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5 Nano scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5 Nano 139.4 (#102 of 148) and Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (134.9–141.7 vs 130.5–135.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5 Nano 69.4%, Mistral Medium 3 59.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5 Nano 81.1%, Mistral Medium 3 32.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5 Nano and Mistral Medium 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5 Nano leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-5 Nano has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: GPT-5 Nano up to 128,000, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5 Nano accepts text and images; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5 Nano and Mistral Medium 3 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

GPT-5 Nano is the newest, released Aug 7, 2025. Mistral Medium 3 came out May 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5 Nano May 30, 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 2025.

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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