API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewMistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Pick Qwen3.5 397B A17B when budget is the priority.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5 397B A17B when budget is the priority.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5 397B A17B is estimated at $1.56 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $3.69 (70.3% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5 397B A17B
Context-first pickBoth models
Sample savings$3.6970.3%
10x traffic gap$36.9

The reported context window is tied, so cost and provider fit carry more weight. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $36.9. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3.5 397B A17B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickMistral Medium 3.5Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputQwen3.5 397B A17B$11.25$3.12
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputQwen3.5 397B A17B$9$2.73
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputQwen3.5 397B A17B$39$12.09
Cheaper input Qwen3.5 397B A17B $1.5 vs $0.39 / 1M

Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $1.11 cheaper per 1M input tokens (74% lower; 3.85x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5 397B A17B $7.5 vs $2.34 / 1M

Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $5.16 cheaper per 1M output tokens (68.8% lower; 3.21x difference).

Larger context Tie 262.14K vs 262.14K

Both models report the same context window at 262.14K tokens.

Sample workload Qwen3.5 397B A17B $5.25 vs $1.56

Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $3.69 cheaper on the standard workload (70.3% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Mistral Medium 3.5 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Qwen3.5 397B A17B Calculating… Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

Qwen3.5 397B A17B has the lower input price; Qwen3.5 397B A17B has the lower output price; both models report the same context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5 397B A17B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5 and $1.56 for Qwen3.5 397B A17B.

Best Fit

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Qwen3.5 397B A17B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5 397B A17B is estimated at $1.56 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $3.69 (70.3% lower).
  • Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $3.69 cheaper on the standard workload (70.3% lower).
  • Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $1.11 cheaper per 1M input tokens (74% lower; 3.85x difference).
  • Qwen3.5 397B A17B is $5.16 cheaper per 1M output tokens (68.8% lower; 3.21x difference).
  • Both models report the same context window at 262.14K tokens.
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureNewMistral Medium 3.5
(Mistral)		Qwen3.5 397B A17B
(Qwen)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$1.5$0.39
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$7.5$2.34
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$5.25$1.56
Context Window262.14K262.14K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionQwen3.5 397B A17BOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5 397B A17B is estimated at $1.56 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $3.69 (70.3% lower).
High-volume input processingQwen3.5 397B A17BLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsQwen3.5 397B A17BLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workTieA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • Mistral Nemo can replace Mistral Medium 3.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.04.
  • Mistral Small 3 can replace Mistral Medium 3.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
  • Ministral 3 3B 2512 can replace Mistral Medium 3.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
  • Mistral Small 3.2 24B can replace Mistral Medium 3.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.17.
Larger context near this budget
Popular competitors
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Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Mistral catalog

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Qwen catalog

Check other Qwen models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

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Mistral Medium 3.5

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...

Qwen3.5 397B A17B

The Qwen3.5 series 397B-A17B native vision-language model is built on a hybrid architecture that integrates a linear attention mechanism with a sparse mixture-of-experts model, achieving higher inference efficiency. It delivers...