Mistral Medium 3.5 is $3.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (70% lower; 3.33x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Fugu Ultra vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for lower cost; pick Fugu Ultra only if the larger context window matters more.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for lower cost; pick Fugu Ultra 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 $20 for Fugu Ultra, saving $14.75 (73.8% lower).
Cost-first pickMistral Medium 3.5
Context-first pickFugu Ultra
Sample savings$14.7573.8%
10x traffic gap$147.5
Fugu Ultra has more context, but Mistral Medium 3.5 saves $14.75 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $147.5. 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 | Fugu Ultra | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $40 | $11.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $35 | $9 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $155 | $39 |
Mistral Medium 3.5 is $22.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).
Fugu Ultra has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
Mistral Medium 3.5 is $14.75 cheaper on the standard workload (73.8% 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
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the lower input price; Mistral Medium 3.5 has the lower output price; Fugu Ultra offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mistral Medium 3.5 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $20 for Fugu Ultra and $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5.
Choose Fugu Ultra when you care most about larger context window.
Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mistral Medium 3.5 is estimated at $5.25 vs $20 for Fugu Ultra, saving $14.75 (73.8% lower).
- Mistral Medium 3.5 is $14.75 cheaper on the standard workload (73.8% lower).
- Mistral Medium 3.5 is $3.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (70% lower; 3.33x difference).
- Mistral Medium 3.5 is $22.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).
- Fugu Ultra has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
| Feature | Fugu Ultra (Sakana) | Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $5 | $1.5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $30 | $7.5 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $20 | $5.25 |
| Context Window | 1M | 262.14K |
| Release Date |
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 $20 for Fugu Ultra, saving $14.75 (73.8% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents 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 | Fugu Ultra | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Sakana Namazu can replace Fugu Ultra when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.95.
- Mistral Nemo can replace Mistral Medium 3.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.03.
- 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.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.11 sample workload cost.
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Cheaper alternatives
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