Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Mistral Medium 3.1
Mistral Medium 3.1 comes out ahead, 50 to 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Coder Plus
37/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $5.00
- Context1.05M
- Our pick
Mistral AIMistral Medium 3.1
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $2.00
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Mistral Medium 3.1 is our pick
Mistral Medium 3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 Coder Plus wins on context window. 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 · Qwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · Mistral Medium 3.1 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsMistral Medium 3.1Qwen3 Coder Plus: Text · Mistral Medium 3.1: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 Coder Plus | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 36 | 54 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 37/100 | 50/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | Mistral Medium 3.1Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.40 (best) |
| Output | $5.00 | $2.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.00 | $0.80 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-coder-plus | mistral-medium-2508 |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jul 23, 2025 | Aug 12, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | 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.
- Qwen3 Coder Plus$20.00
- Mistral Medium 3.1$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 Coder Plus or Mistral Medium 3.1?
Mistral Medium 3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen3 Coder Plus wins on context window. 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 Coder Plus or Mistral Medium 3.1?
Mistral Medium 3.1 is cheaper at $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen3 Coder Plus costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $2.00 for Qwen3 Coder Plus (2.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Coder Plus has not been scored yet and Mistral Medium 3.1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Coder Plus and Mistral Medium 3.1 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?
Qwen3 Coder Plus has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Mistral Medium 3.1. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536, Mistral Medium 3.1 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text; Mistral Medium 3.1 accepts text and images. Mistral Medium 3.1 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3 Coder Plus and Mistral Medium 3.1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Mistral Medium 3.1 is the newest, released Aug 12, 2025. Qwen3 Coder Plus came out Jul 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Coder Plus Apr 2025, 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.
