Pick Mistral Large 3 for open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable or strong multilingual performance. Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier or 128b dense open-weight model — self-hostable. On a tight budget at scale, Mistral Large 3 is the value pick.
Mistral Large 3 (Mistral) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Mistral Large 3 is france's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency. Mistral Medium 3.5 is mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). Their biggest split is price, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences
Price: Mistral Large 3 is about 3× cheaper on input ($0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
Context window: both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
Recency: Mistral Medium 3.5 is the newer model by about 5 months (released April 29, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Mistral Large 3
Mistral Medium 3.5
Provider
Mistral (France)
Mistral AI (France)
Released
December 2, 2025
April 29, 2026
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens
$1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Open-weight (Apache 2.0), self-hostable: Mistral Large 3 — France's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency — and it runs cheaper at $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens.
Strong multilingual performance: Mistral Large 3 — Mistral Large 3 lists strong multilingual performance among its strengths; Mistral Medium 3.5 does not.
Efficient inference: Mistral Large 3 — Mistral Large 3 lists efficient inference among its strengths; Mistral Medium 3.5 does not.
Strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier: Mistral Medium 3.5 — Mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30) — and it is the newer of the two.
128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable: Mistral Medium 3.5 — Mistral Medium 3.5 lists 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable among its strengths; Mistral Large 3 does not.
Unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort: Mistral Medium 3.5 — Mistral Medium 3.5 lists unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort among its strengths; Mistral Large 3 does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Mistral Large 3 — At $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Mistral Large 3 — At $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Mistral Medium 3.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Anyone whose priority is open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable: Mistral Large 3 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier: Mistral Medium 3.5 — That is its strongest area.
Mistral Large 3: where it fits
France's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency. Released December 2, 2025 by Mistral, it is built for open-weight (Apache 2.0), self-hostable, strong multilingual performance, efficient inference, and function calling.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than US/China frontier, and less benchmark coverage. At $0.5 in / $1.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Mistral Medium 3.5: where it fits
Mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). Released April 29, 2026 by Mistral AI, it is built for strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier, 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable, unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort, and 256K context with text and image input.
Its trade-offs: below the absolute frontier — a value/efficiency pick, not a flagship-beater, output pricing ($7.50/M) is higher than the cheapest Chinese rivals, license framing ('open' vs enterprise) varies across sources — confirm terms for commercial use, and no native video or audio. At $1.5 in / $7.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Mistral Large 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Mistral Large 3 costs less per token; and each leads in its own area — Mistral Large 3 for open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable, Mistral Medium 3.5 for strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5 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, Mistral Large 3 leans toward open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable while Mistral Medium 3.5 leans toward strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper — $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens, roughly 3× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Mistral Large 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Mistral Large 3, Mistral Medium 3.5 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, Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 — released April 29, 2026, about 5 months after Mistral Large 3.
Mistral Large 3 vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral · France | Mistral AI · France · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Mistral Large 3 for open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable or strong multilingual performance. Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier or 128b dense open-weight model — self-hostable. On a tight budget at scale, Mistral Large 3 is the value pick.
Mistral Large 3 (Mistral) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Mistral Large 3 is france's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency. Mistral Medium 3.5 is mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). Their biggest split is price, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Mistral Large 3 is about 3× cheaper on input ($0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
▸Context window: both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
▸Recency: Mistral Medium 3.5 is the newer model by about 5 months (released April 29, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Mistral Large 3
Mistral Medium 3.5
Provider
Mistral (France)
Mistral AI (France)
Released
December 2, 2025
April 29, 2026
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens
$1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Open-weight (Apache 2.0), self-hostable
Mistral Large 3
France's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency — and it runs cheaper at $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens.
Strong multilingual performance
Mistral Large 3
Mistral Large 3 lists strong multilingual performance among its strengths; Mistral Medium 3.5 does not.
Efficient inference
Mistral Large 3
Mistral Large 3 lists efficient inference among its strengths; Mistral Medium 3.5 does not.
Strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30) — and it is the newer of the two.
128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 lists 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable among its strengths; Mistral Large 3 does not.
Unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 lists unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort among its strengths; Mistral Large 3 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Mistral Large 3
At $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Mistral Large 3
At $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Mistral Medium 3.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Anyone whose priority is open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable
→ Mistral Large 3
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier
→ Mistral Medium 3.5
That is its strongest area.
Mistral Large 3: where it fits
France's frontier contender — strong multilingual model with European data residency. Released December 2, 2025 by Mistral, it is built for open-weight (Apache 2.0), self-hostable, strong multilingual performance, efficient inference, and function calling.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than US/China frontier, and less benchmark coverage. At $0.5 in / $1.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Mistral Medium 3.5: where it fits
Mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). Released April 29, 2026 by Mistral AI, it is built for strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier, 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable, unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort, and 256K context with text and image input.
Its trade-offs: below the absolute frontier — a value/efficiency pick, not a flagship-beater, output pricing ($7.50/M) is higher than the cheapest Chinese rivals, license framing ('open' vs enterprise) varies across sources — confirm terms for commercial use, and no native video or audio. At $1.5 in / $7.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Mistral Large 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Mistral Large 3 costs less per token; and each leads in its own area — Mistral Large 3 for open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable, Mistral Medium 3.5 for strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Mistral Large 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 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.
Is Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5 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, Mistral Large 3 leans toward open-weight (apache 2.0), self-hostable while Mistral Medium 3.5 leans toward strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper — $0.5/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens, roughly 3× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Mistral Large 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Mistral Large 3, Mistral Medium 3.5 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, Mistral Large 3 or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 — released April 29, 2026, about 5 months after Mistral Large 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.