comparison
Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3 Max
Token pricing, context window and real monthly cost, side by side. Qwen3 Max is the cheaper of the two for a typical workload — about 1.9× less.
| metric | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $1.50 | $0.78 |
| Output / 1M | $7.50 | $3.90 |
| Context | 262K | 262K |
| Cost @ typical workload | $1,200/mo | $624/mo |
| Modality | text + image | Text only |
| Price source | list | routed |
| Provider | Mistral | Qwen |
Snapshot . Cost uses a typical workload; tune it in the calculator. How we measure →
Which should you pick?
On a typical workload, Qwen3 Max costs $624/mo against Mistral Medium 3.5's $1,200/mo — roughly 1.9× cheaper. But the ranking depends on your output-to-input ratio: output is the pricier direction for both, so an output-heavy job (code generation, long answers) widens the gap while an input-heavy one (summarization, retrieval) narrows it. Both share the same context window, so that's not a deciding factor here. Only Mistral Medium 3.5 accepts image input — decisive if your prompts include images.
These are list and routed market prices, not measured outcomes. Two models at the same rate can still cost different amounts to finish the same task, because verbose or reasoning-heavy models emit more tokens. That gap is exactly what measured cost-per-task captures.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mistral Medium 3.5 or Qwen3 Max cheaper?
For a typical workload (1,500 input + 500 output tokens × 200,000 requests/month), Qwen3 Max costs $624/mo versus $1,200/mo for Mistral Medium 3.5 — about 1.9× less. Because output is priced higher than input, the winner can flip if your workload writes much more or less than this; check your own numbers in the calculator.
What's the main difference between Mistral Medium 3.5 and Qwen3 Max?
On price, Mistral Medium 3.5 is $1.50/$7.50 per 1M (in/out) and Qwen3 Max is $0.78/$3.90. Both carry the same context window. Mistral Medium 3.5 also accepts image input, while Qwen3 Max is text-only.
More comparisons
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- GPT-5.4 vs Qwen3 Max
- Mistral Medium 3.5 vs GPT-5.4 mini
- GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen3 Max
- Qwen3 Max vs GPT-5.4 nano
Related
- Mistral Medium 3.5 and Qwen3 Max — full specs and price history.
- API cost calculator — compare on your own workload.
- All comparisons — the full head-to-head index.