Mistral Medium 3 vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Medium 3.5 55, Mistral Medium 3 53). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Mistral AIMistral Medium 3
53/100- ECI134.1
- Price$0.40 / $2.00
- Context131K
- Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
55/100- ECI141.4
- Price$1.50 / $7.50
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Medium 3.5 55/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Medium 3.5 for raw capability and Mistral Medium 3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityMistral Medium 3.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3.5 141.4 · Mistral Medium 3 134.1
- Lowest priceMistral Medium 3Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 · Mistral Medium 3.5 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMistral Medium 3.5Mistral Medium 3.5 262,144 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Medium 3: Text, Images · Mistral Medium 3.5: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMistral Medium 3.5Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mistral Medium 3 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 58 | 67 |
| Price | 25% | 54 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 50 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 55/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Mistral Medium 3Mistral AI | Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 134.1 | 141.4 (best) |
| ECI rank | #117 of 148 | #95 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 59.5% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 32.2% | — |
| 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 rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yeshigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | mistral-medium-2505 | mistral-medium-2604 |
| API providers | 5 | 12 (best) |
| Released | May 7, 2025 | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2025 | — |
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$8.00
- Mistral Medium 3.5$30.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Medium 3.5 55/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Medium 3.5 for raw capability and Mistral Medium 3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Medium 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3 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 versus $3.00 for Mistral Medium 3.5 (3.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Mistral Medium 3.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3.5 141.4 (#95 of 148) and Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (138.4–143.7 vs 130.5–135.6), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Medium 3.5 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?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072, Mistral Medium 3.5 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mistral Medium 3 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 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mistral Medium 3.5 is the newest, released Apr 29, 2026. Mistral Medium 3 came out May 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
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