Pick Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment or running locally or on edge devices. Pick Mistral Medium 3 for strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00 or general reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks. Choose Gemma 4 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Mistral Medium 3 if you want a managed API.
Gemma 4 (Google, US) and Mistral Medium 3 (Mistral AI, France) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Gemma 4 is google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Mistral Medium 3 is mistral's mid-tier model at $0.40/$2.00 — efficient general capability with a 128K window, below the 1M-context frontier tier. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Cost model: Gemma 4 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Mistral Medium 3 is API-metered at $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
Context window: Gemma 4 holds 2× more — 256K (~384 pages) vs 128K (~192 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: Gemma 4 is the newer model by about 11 months (released April 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-France matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Specifications
Spec
Gemma 4
Mistral Medium 3
Provider
Google (US)
Mistral AI (France)
Released
April 2, 2026
May 7, 2025
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
128K (~192 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$0.4/$2 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Self-hosted, data-private deployment: Gemma 4 — Open weights make this possible at all — Mistral Medium 3 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Running locally or on edge devices: Gemma 4 — Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and it carries the larger 256K context.
Fine-tuning on your own data: Gemma 4 — Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and its weights are open while Mistral Medium 3 is API-only.
Strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00: Mistral Medium 3 — Mistral Medium 3 lists strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00 among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
General reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks: Mistral Medium 3 — Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
Efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads: Mistral Medium 3 — Mistral Medium 3 lists efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Gemma 4 — Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Mistral Medium 3's $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input: Gemma 4 — Its 256K window is about 2× larger than Mistral Medium 3's 128K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Gemma 4 — At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Mistral Medium 3, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Gemma 4 — Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: Gemma 4 — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Mistral Medium 3 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment: Gemma 4 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00: Mistral Medium 3 — That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules: Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3 — Origin (US vs France) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Gemma 4: where it fits
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Released April 2, 2026 by Google, it is built for self-hosted, data-private deployment, running locally or on edge devices, fine-tuning on your own data, and multimodal tasks over a 256K context.
Its trade-offs are real: trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks, and needs your own hardware to run. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Mistral Medium 3: where it fits
Mistral's mid-tier model at $0.40/$2.00 — efficient general capability with a 128K window, below the 1M-context frontier tier. Released May 7, 2025 by Mistral AI, it is built for strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00, general reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks, efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads, and text and image input.
Its trade-offs: a 128K context — smaller than the 1M-window flagships here, no published SWE-Bench Verified score, a mid-tier model, not a frontier reasoner, and proprietary, unlike Mistral's open-weight releases. At $0.4 in / $2 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Gemma 4 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Mistral Medium 3 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Gemma 4 leans toward self-hosted, data-private deployment while Mistral Medium 3 leans toward strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3?
Gemma 4 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Mistral Medium 3 is API-metered at $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 — 256K vs 128K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and Mistral Medium 3 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, Mistral Medium 3 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3?
Gemma 4 — released April 2, 2026, about 11 months after Mistral Medium 3.
Gemma 4 vs Mistral Medium 3
Google · US | Mistral AI · France · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment or running locally or on edge devices. Pick Mistral Medium 3 for strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00 or general reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks. Choose Gemma 4 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Mistral Medium 3 if you want a managed API.
Gemma 4 (Google, US) and Mistral Medium 3 (Mistral AI, France) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Gemma 4 is google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Mistral Medium 3 is mistral's mid-tier model at $0.40/$2.00 — efficient general capability with a 128K window, below the 1M-context frontier tier. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Cost model: Gemma 4 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Mistral Medium 3 is API-metered at $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
▸Context window: Gemma 4 holds 2× more — 256K (~384 pages) vs 128K (~192 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: Gemma 4 is the newer model by about 11 months (released April 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-France matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Gemma 4
Mistral Medium 3
Provider
Google (US)
Mistral AI (France)
Released
April 2, 2026
May 7, 2025
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
128K (~192 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$0.4/$2 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Self-hosted, data-private deployment
Gemma 4
Open weights make this possible at all — Mistral Medium 3 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Running locally or on edge devices
Gemma 4
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and it carries the larger 256K context.
Fine-tuning on your own data
Gemma 4
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and its weights are open while Mistral Medium 3 is API-only.
Strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00
Mistral Medium 3
Mistral Medium 3 lists strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00 among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
General reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks
Mistral Medium 3
Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
Efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads
Mistral Medium 3
Mistral Medium 3 lists efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Gemma 4
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Mistral Medium 3's $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
Gemma 4
Its 256K window is about 2× larger than Mistral Medium 3's 128K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Gemma 4
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Mistral Medium 3, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Gemma 4
Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Gemma 4
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Mistral Medium 3 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment
→ Gemma 4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00
→ Mistral Medium 3
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3
Origin (US vs France) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Gemma 4: where it fits
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Released April 2, 2026 by Google, it is built for self-hosted, data-private deployment, running locally or on edge devices, fine-tuning on your own data, and multimodal tasks over a 256K context.
Its trade-offs are real: trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks, and needs your own hardware to run. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Mistral Medium 3: where it fits
Mistral's mid-tier model at $0.40/$2.00 — efficient general capability with a 128K window, below the 1M-context frontier tier. Released May 7, 2025 by Mistral AI, it is built for strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00, general reasoning, coding and multimodal tasks, efficient mid-tier deployment for production workloads, and text and image input.
Its trade-offs: a 128K context — smaller than the 1M-window flagships here, no published SWE-Bench Verified score, a mid-tier model, not a frontier reasoner, and proprietary, unlike Mistral's open-weight releases. At $0.4 in / $2 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Gemma 4 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Mistral Medium 3 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both Gemma 4 and Mistral Medium 3 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Gemma 4 leans toward self-hosted, data-private deployment while Mistral Medium 3 leans toward strong cost-to-capability at $0.40/$2.00, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3?
Gemma 4 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Mistral Medium 3 is API-metered at $0.4/$2 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 — 256K vs 128K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and Mistral Medium 3 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, Mistral Medium 3 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Gemma 4 or Mistral Medium 3?
Gemma 4 — released April 2, 2026, about 11 months after Mistral Medium 3.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.