API cost decision in 10 seconds

Grok 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5

Pick Grok 4.5 when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-08-12T16:08:21Z Data confirmed: 2026-08-23T13:07:49Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Grok 4.5 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.5 is estimated at $5 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $0.25 (4.8% lower).

Cost-first pickGrok 4.5

Context-first pickGrok 4.5

Sample savings$0.254.8%

10x traffic gap$2.5

Grok 4.5 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $2.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors Mistral Medium 3.5, balanced workload favors Grok 4.5, and output-heavy chatbot favors Grok 4.5.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Grok 4.5	Mistral Medium 3.5
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Mistral Medium 3.5	$13	$11.25
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Grok 4.5	$8	$9
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Grok 4.5	$32	$39

Cheaper input Mistral Medium 3.5 $2 vs $1.5 / 1M

Mistral Medium 3.5 is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (25% lower; 1.33x difference).

Cheaper output Grok 4.5 $6 vs $7.5 / 1M

Grok 4.5 is $1.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).

Larger context Grok 4.5 500K vs 262.14K

Grok 4.5 has 237.86K more context (1.91x larger).

Sample workload Grok 4.5 $5 vs $5.25

Grok 4.5 is $0.25 cheaper on the standard workload (4.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Grok 4.5 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Mistral Medium 3.5 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 Medium 3.5 has the lower input price; Grok 4.5 has the lower output price; Grok 4.5 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Grok 4.5 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $5 for Grok 4.5 and $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5.

Best Fit

Choose Grok 4.5 when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 when you care most about lower input-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.5 is estimated at $5 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $0.25 (4.8% lower).
Grok 4.5 is $0.25 cheaper on the standard workload (4.8% lower).
Mistral Medium 3.5 is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (25% lower; 1.33x difference).
Grok 4.5 is $1.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
Grok 4.5 has 237.86K more context (1.91x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Grok 4.5 (SpaceXAI)	Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$2	$1.5
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$6	$7.5
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$5	$5.25
Context Window	500K	262.14K
Release Date	2026-07-08	2026-04-30

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Grok 4.5	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.5 is estimated at $5 vs $5.25 for Mistral Medium 3.5, saving $0.25 (4.8% 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	Grok 4.5	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Grok 4.5	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Grok Build 0.1 can replace Grok 4.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.
Grok 4.3 can replace Grok 4.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.5.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent can replace Grok 4.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.5.
Grok 4.20 can replace Grok 4.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.5.

Larger context near this budget

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.

Popular competitors

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Ox Alpha · stealth · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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SpaceXAI catalog

Review all tracked SpaceXAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open SpaceXAI models

Mistral catalog

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

Open Mistral models

Grok 4.5

Grok 4.5 is a model from SpaceXAI with frontier performance on coding, knowledge work, and STEM.

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...