API cost decision in 10 seconds
Mistral Medium 3.5 vs 🔥Claude Opus 4.6
Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for lower cost; pick Claude Opus 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.
Pricing data updated:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for lower cost; pick Claude Opus 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Medium 3.5 is estimated at $5.25 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6, saving $12.25 (70% lower).
Cost-first pickMistral Medium 3.5
Context-first pickClaude Opus 4.6
Sample savings$12.2570%
10x traffic gap$122.5
Claude Opus 4.6 has more context, but Mistral Medium 3.5 saves $12.25 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $122.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Mistral Medium 3.5 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $11.25 | $37.5 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $9 | $30 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $39 | $130 |
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
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the lower input price, Mistral Medium 3.5 has the lower output price, and Claude Opus 4.6 offers the larger context window.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5 and $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6.
Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
Choose Claude Opus 4.6 when you care most about larger context window.
| Feature | Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral) | 🔥Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.5 | $5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $7.5 | $25 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $5.25 | $17.5 |
| Context Window | 262.14K | 1M |
| Release Date | 2026-04-30 | 2026-02-04 |
| Popularity | #18 |
Mistral Medium 3.5 is a dense 128B instruction-following model from Mistral AI. It supports text and image inputs with text output, and is designed for agentic workflows, coding, and complex...
Opus 4.6 is Anthropic’s strongest model for coding and long-running professional tasks. It is built for agents that operate across entire workflows rather than single prompts, making it especially effective...
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Mistral Medium 3.5 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Medium 3.5 is estimated at $5.25 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6, saving $12.25 (70% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts or retrieved passages dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Claude Opus 4.6 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages and source files. |