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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Mistral Large 3

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Large 3 52, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 9B Base

    Released Feb 26, 2026

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.807
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 9B Base

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 3

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Large 3 52/100, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 9B 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 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 · Mistral Large 3 $0.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9B BaseMistral Large 3
Price50%6553
Inputs & features30%3560
Context window20%3737
Overall100%50/10052/100

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.

Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Mistral Large 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen)Mistral Large 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30 (best)$0.50
Output$0.807 (best)$1.50
Cached input—$0.05
Blended (3:1)$0.427 (best)$0.75
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID—mistral-large-2512
API providers117 (best)
ReleasedFeb 26, 2026Dec 2, 2025
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.

  • Qwen3.5 9B Base$4.61
  • Mistral Large 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B Base or Mistral Large 3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Large 3 52/100, Qwen3.5 9B Base 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 9B 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, Qwen3.5 9B Base or Mistral Large 3?

Qwen3.5 9B Base is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.807 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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.427 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B Base versus $0.75 for Mistral Large 3 (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet and Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B Base and Mistral Large 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.5 9B Base and Mistral Large 3 share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images. Qwen3.5 9B Base handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 9B Base is the newest, released Feb 26, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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