ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Grok Build 0.1 vs Mistral Large 3 vs Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base

Too close to call on our weighted score (Grok Build 0.1 53, Mistral Large 3 52, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 45). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. xAI

    Grok Build 0.1

    Released Apr 16, 2026

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.00 / $2.00
    • Context256K
  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 3

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context262K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base

    Released Feb 24, 2026

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.54 / $1.33
    • Context262K
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok Build 0.1 53/100, Mistral Large 3 52/100, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 45/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base on price. 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 priceQwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseQwen3.5 35B-A3B Base $0.739 · Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Grok Build 0.1 $1.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Large 3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseMistral Large 3 262,144 · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 262,144 · Grok Build 0.1 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGrok Build 0.1 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseGrok Build 0.1: Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingMistral Large 3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B BasePublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok Build 0.1Mistral Large 3Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base
Price50%435354
Inputs & features30%806035
Context window20%363737
Overall100%53/10052/10045/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Grok Build 0.1 vs Mistral Large 3 vs Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok Build 0.1xAIMistral Large 3Mistral AIQwen3.5 35B-A3B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$1.00$0.50 (best)$0.54
Output$2.00$1.50$1.33 (best)
Cached input$0.20$0.05 (best)—
Blended (3:1)$1.25$0.75$0.739 (best)
Long-context rateOver 200K: $2.00 / $4.00Same rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial xAI APIOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window256,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)262,144 tokens (best)
Max output256,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesNo
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDgrok-build-0.1mistral-large-2512—
API providers20 (best)171
ReleasedApr 16, 2026Dec 2, 2025Feb 24, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Nov 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.

  • Grok Build 0.1$14.00
  • Mistral Large 3$8.00
  • Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base$8.07
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok Build 0.1, Mistral Large 3 or Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok Build 0.1 53/100, Mistral Large 3 52/100, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base 45/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base on price. 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, Grok Build 0.1, Mistral Large 3 or Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base?

Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base is cheaper at $0.54 input / $1.33 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Mistral Large 3 costs $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Grok Build 0.1 costs $1.00 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.739 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base versus $0.75 for Mistral Large 3 (1× as much) and $1.25 for Grok Build 0.1 (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Grok Build 0.1 has not been scored yet, Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok Build 0.1, Mistral Large 3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Mistral Large 3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Grok Build 0.1. Maximum output per response: Grok Build 0.1 up to 256,000, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144, Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok Build 0.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images; Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base accepts text, images and video. Grok Build 0.1 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Large 3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok Build 0.1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Grok Build 0.1 is the newest, released Apr 16, 2026. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Base came out Feb 24, 2026; Mistral Large 3 came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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 Nov 2, 2026.