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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Mistral Medium 3.5

Mistral Medium 3.1 comes out ahead, 50 to 42 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3.1

    Released Aug 12, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3.1

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3.5

    Released Apr 29, 2026

    42/100
    • ECI141.4
    • Price$1.50 / $7.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3.5

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Medium 3.1 is our pick

Mistral Medium 3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Mistral Medium 3.5 (42). It leads on price. Mistral Medium 3.5 wins on inputs & features. 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 Medium 3.1Mistral Medium 3.1 $0.80 · Mistral Medium 3.5 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMistral Medium 3.1 262,144 · Mistral Medium 3.5 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Medium 3.1: Text, Images · Mistral Medium 3.5: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Medium 3.5Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Medium 3.1Mistral Medium 3.5
Price50%5427
Inputs & features30%5070
Context window20%3737
Overall100%50/10042/100

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.

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Mistral Medium 3.5 specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Medium 3.1Mistral AIMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—141.4
ECI rank—#95 of 148
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$1.50
Output$2.00 (best)$7.50
Cached input—$0.15
Blended (3:1)$0.80 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYeshigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDmistral-medium-2508mistral-medium-2604
API providers112 (best)
ReleasedAug 12, 2025Apr 29, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMay 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.

  • Mistral Medium 3.1$8.00
  • Mistral Medium 3.5$30.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Medium 3.1 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Mistral Medium 3.5 (42). It leads on price. Mistral Medium 3.5 wins on inputs & features. 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, Mistral Medium 3.1 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.1 is cheaper at $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.80 per million tokens for Mistral Medium 3.1 versus $3.00 for Mistral Medium 3.5 (3.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Mistral Medium 3.1 has not been scored yet and Mistral Medium 3.5 has an ECI of 141.4.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Medium 3.1 and Mistral Medium 3.5 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 Medium 3.1 and Mistral Medium 3.5 share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Mistral Medium 3.1 up to 262,144, Mistral Medium 3.5 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Medium 3.1 accepts text and images; Mistral Medium 3.5 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Medium 3.5 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mistral Medium 3.1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Medium 3.5 is the newest, released Apr 29, 2026. Mistral Medium 3.1 came out Aug 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Medium 3.1 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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