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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Mistral Large 3

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Large 3 50, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.40 / $4.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 3

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 3

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Large 3 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 3 on price and Mistral Large 3 for long inputs. 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 Large 3Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Large 3Mistral Large 3 262,144 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · 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 VL 235B A22B ThinkingMistral Large 3
Price50%4456
Inputs & features30%7050
Context window20%2437
Overall100%48/10050/100

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 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Mistral Large 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)Mistral Large 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.50
Output$4.00$1.50 (best)
Cached input—$0.05
Blended (3:1)$1.30$0.75 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—mistral-large-2512
API providers913 (best)
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Dec 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 31, 2025Nov 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
  • Mistral Large 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking or Mistral Large 3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Large 3 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 3 on price and Mistral Large 3 for long inputs. 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking or Mistral Large 3?

Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.40 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Mistral Large 3 versus $1.30 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Mistral Large 3 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 Large 3 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 3 is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 2025, 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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