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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Qwen3-VL Plus

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. 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. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL Plus

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Mistral Medium 3.1 (50). It leads on price and 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 priceQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Mistral Medium 3.1 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMistral Medium 3.1 262,144 · Qwen3-VL Plus 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Medium 3.1: Text, Images · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Medium 3.1Qwen3-VL Plus
Price50%5462
Inputs & features30%5060
Context window20%3737
Overall100%50/10056/100

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 Qwen3-VL Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Medium 3.1Mistral AIQwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.20 (best)
Output$2.00$1.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.80$0.55 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDmistral-medium-2508qwen3-vl-plus
API providers16 (best)
ReleasedAug 12, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 2025Apr 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
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Medium 3.1 or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Mistral Medium 3.1 (50). It leads on price and 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 Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Mistral Medium 3.1 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 $0.55 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL Plus versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3.1 (1.5× 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 Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Medium 3.1 and Qwen3-VL Plus 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 Qwen3-VL Plus share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Mistral Medium 3.1 up to 262,144, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Medium 3.1 accepts text and images; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. Mistral Medium 3.1 and Qwen3-VL Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Mistral Medium 3.1 came out Aug 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Medium 3.1 May 2025, Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 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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