Claude Opus 4.8 vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Detailed pricing comparison and cost analysis.
Updated September 2026
Cost Simulator
| Feature | Claude Opus 4.8 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Mistral |
| Input Price (1M) | $5.00 | $1.50 |
| Output Price (1M) | $25.00 | $7.50 |
| Context Window | 1,000,000 | 262,000 |
Verdict
Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5.00 per 1M input tokens and $25.00 per 1M output tokens. Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $7.50 per 1M output tokens. Mistral Medium 3.5 is 70% cheaper on input tokens than Claude Opus 4.8. For output tokens, Mistral Medium 3.5 is the more affordable option at $7.50/1M vs $25.00.
On context window, Claude Opus 4.8 supports 1,000,000 tokens — meaning it can fit more conversation history, documents, or code in a single request. This matters for RAG pipelines, long document analysis, and agentic workflows where context builds up over many turns.
When to choose Claude Opus 4.8
- ✓ You need a larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
- ✓ You are already integrated with Anthropic
When to choose Mistral Medium 3.5
- ✓ You need the lowest input token cost ($ 1.50/1M)
- ✓ Your workload is output-heavy — Mistral Medium 3.5 generates text cheaper
- ✓ You are already integrated with Mistral
Use the calculator above to simulate your specific workload and find the exact break-even point. For most applications, the cheapest model is the one that minimises your total monthly bill given your input-to-output token ratio.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5? ▼
Mistral Medium 3.5 is cheaper on input tokens at $1.50/1M vs $5.00/1M for Claude Opus 4.8 — a 70% saving.
What is the context window of Claude Opus 4.8 vs Mistral Medium 3.5? ▼
Claude Opus 4.8 has a 1,000,000-token context window. Mistral Medium 3.5 has a 262,000-token context window. Claude Opus 4.8 supports the larger context, suitable for longer documents and agentic workflows.
Which model is better: Claude Opus 4.8 or Mistral Medium 3.5? ▼
The best choice depends on your use case. For cost efficiency on input tokens, Mistral Medium 3.5 is the cheaper option. For maximum context length, Claude Opus 4.8 supports 1,000,000 tokens. Use the comparison table above to find the right fit for your workload.