Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 37.0 to 26.9. Mistral Medium 3.5 is 2.0x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 37.0 to 26.9, ranking #71 overall.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Mistral Medium 3.5 is roughly 2.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Mistral Medium 3.5 also accepts a larger context window (256,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6
- overall performance matters — it scores 37.0 and ranks #71 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
Choose Mistral Medium 3.5
- cost matters — it's about 2.0x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
17 reported for Claude Sonnet 4.6 · 11 for Mistral Medium 3.5
Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (BrowseComp, Finance Agent v2, SWE-Bench Verified), while Mistral Medium 3.5 is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($1.50/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($7.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is more expensive than Mistral Medium 3.5.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mistral Medium 3.5 accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 200,000 tokens. Mistral Medium 3.5 can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Mistral Medium 3.5 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Mistral Medium 3.5
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Medium 3.5 uses Modified MIT License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Modified MIT License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released on 2026-02-17, while Mistral Medium 3.5 was released on 2026-04-29.
Mistral Medium 3.5 is 2 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Feb 17, 2026
7 months ago
Apr 29, 2026
4 months ago
2mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is available from Anthropic, DeepInfra. Mistral Medium 3.5 is available from Mistral AI.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Mistral Medium 3.5
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Mistral Medium 3.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Medium 3.5.