API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥GPT-5.5 vs Mistral Nemo

Pick Mistral Nemo for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T20:08:05Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Mistral Nemo for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Nemo is estimated at $0.04 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.96 (99.8% lower).

Cost-first pickMistral Nemo

Context-first pickGPT-5.5

Sample savings$19.9699.8%

10x traffic gap$199.65

GPT-5.5 has more context, but Mistral Nemo saves $19.96 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $199.65. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Mistral Nemo stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GPT-5.5	Mistral Nemo
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Mistral Nemo	$40	$0.12
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Mistral Nemo	$35	$0.05
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Mistral Nemo	$155	$0.17

Cheaper input Mistral Nemo $5 vs $0.02 / 1M

Mistral Nemo is $4.98 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.6% lower; 250x difference).

Cheaper output Mistral Nemo $30 vs $0.03 / 1M

Mistral Nemo is $29.97 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.9% lower; 1000x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.5 1.05M vs 131.07K

GPT-5.5 has 918.93K more context (8.01x larger).

Sample workload Mistral Nemo $20 vs $0.04

Mistral Nemo is $19.96 cheaper on the standard workload (99.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GPT-5.5 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Mistral Nemo 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

Mistral Nemo has the lower input price; Mistral Nemo has the lower output price; GPT-5.5 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mistral Nemo is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $20 for GPT-5.5 and $0.04 for Mistral Nemo.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.5 when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Mistral Nemo 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, Mistral Nemo is estimated at $0.04 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.96 (99.8% lower).
Mistral Nemo is $19.96 cheaper on the standard workload (99.8% lower).
Mistral Nemo is $4.98 cheaper per 1M input tokens (99.6% lower; 250x difference).
Mistral Nemo is $29.97 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.9% lower; 1000x difference).
GPT-5.5 has 918.93K more context (8.01x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥GPT-5.5 (OpenAI)	Mistral Nemo (Mistral)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$5	$0.02
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$30	$0.03
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$20	$0.04
Context Window	1.05M	131.07K
Release Date	2026-04-24	2024-07-19
Popularity	#17	#34

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Mistral Nemo	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Nemo is estimated at $0.04 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.96 (99.8% lower).
High-volume input processing	Mistral Nemo	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Mistral Nemo	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.5	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.

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Provider catalogs

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OpenAI catalog

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Mistral catalog

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Open Mistral models

GPT-5.5

GPT-5.5 is OpenAI’s frontier model designed for complex professional workloads, building on GPT-5.4 with stronger reasoning, higher reliability, and improved token efficiency on hard tasks. It features a 1M+ token...

Mistral Nemo

A 12B parameter model with a 128k token context length built by Mistral in collaboration with NVIDIA. The model is multilingual, supporting English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese,...