Both models report the same input price at $0.5 per 1M tokens.
API cost decision in 10 seconds
R1 0528 vs Mistral Large 3 2512
Pick Mistral Large 3 2512 when budget and context both matter.
Budget verdict
Pick Mistral Large 3 2512 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Large 3 2512 is estimated at $1.25 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.32 (20.6% lower).
Mistral Large 3 2512 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $3.25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Mistral Large 3 2512 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | R1 0528 | Mistral Large 3 2512 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mistral Large 3 2512 | $3.58 | $3.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mistral Large 3 2512 | $2.65 | $2 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mistral Large 3 2512 | $11.25 | $8 |
Mistral Large 3 2512 is $0.65 cheaper per 1M output tokens (30.2% lower; 1.43x difference).
Mistral Large 3 2512 has 98.3K more context (1.6x larger).
Mistral Large 3 2512 is $0.32 cheaper on the standard workload (20.6% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
both models tie on input price; Mistral Large 3 2512 has the lower output price; Mistral Large 3 2512 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mistral Large 3 2512 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1.57 for R1 0528 and $1.25 for Mistral Large 3 2512.
Choose R1 0528 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Mistral Large 3 2512 when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Large 3 2512 is estimated at $1.25 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.32 (20.6% lower).
- Mistral Large 3 2512 is $0.32 cheaper on the standard workload (20.6% lower).
- Both models report the same input price at $0.5 per 1M tokens.
- Mistral Large 3 2512 is $0.65 cheaper per 1M output tokens (30.2% lower; 1.43x difference).
- Mistral Large 3 2512 has 98.3K more context (1.6x larger).
| Feature | R1 0528 (DeepSeek) | Mistral Large 3 2512 (Mistral) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.5 | $0.5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $2.15 | $1.5 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $1.57 | $1.25 |
| Context Window | 163.84K | 262.14K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #106 | #114 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Mistral Large 3 2512 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Large 3 2512 is estimated at $1.25 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.32 (20.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Tie | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Mistral Large 3 2512 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.
- R1 Distill Qwen 32B can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.43.
- DeepSeek V3.2 can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.44.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
- Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
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Open Mistral modelsMay 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...
Mistral Large 3 2512 is Mistral’s most capable model to date, featuring a sparse mixture-of-experts architecture with 41B active parameters (675B total), and released under the Apache 2.0 license.