Model Comparison

Claude 3 Opus vs Magistral MediumWhich is better in 2026?

Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs Magistral Medium — which is better?

Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and Magistral Medium (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude 3 Opus if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output

Choose Magistral Medium if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude 3 Opus specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3 Opus specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Magistral Medium
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude 3 Opus and Magistral Medium support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude 3 Opus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Magistral Medium

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3 Opus is licensed under a proprietary license, while Magistral Medium uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude 3 Opus

Proprietary

Closed source

Magistral Medium

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while Magistral Medium was released on 2025-06-10.

Magistral Medium is 16 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.

Claude 3 Opus

Feb 29, 2024

2.4 years ago

Magistral Medium

Jun 10, 2025

1.1 years ago

1.3yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Magistral Medium has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Magistral Medium's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.

Claude 3 Opus

—

Magistral Medium

Jun 2025

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Mistral AI
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (70.8% vs 50.4%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Opus and Magistral Medium side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude 3 Opus
✓ Preferred
Magistral Medium
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Mistral AI
Magistral Medium

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs Magistral Medium.

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or Magistral Medium?

Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Opus is made by Anthropic and Magistral Medium is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Opus compare to Magistral Medium in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Opus scores ARC-C: 96.4%, HellaSwag: 95.4%, GSM8k: 95.0%, MGSM: 90.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 86.8%. Magistral Medium scores AIME 2024: 73.6%, GPQA: 70.8%, AIME 2025: 64.9%, LiveCodeBench: 50.3%, Aider-Polyglot: 47.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Opus and Magistral Medium?

Claude 3 Opus supports 200K tokens and Magistral Medium supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3 Opus and Magistral Medium?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Opus and Magistral Medium?

Claude 3 Opus is developed by Anthropic and Magistral Medium is developed by Mistral AI.

Related comparisons