Model Comparison
Gemma 4 26B-A4B vs Mistral Medium 3.5Which is better in 2026?
Comparing Gemma 4 26B-A4B and Mistral Medium 3.5 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Verdict: Gemma 4 26B-A4B vs Mistral Medium 3.5 — which is better?
Gemma 4 26B-A4B (by Google) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (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.
On price, Gemma 4 26B-A4B is roughly 15.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Gemma 4 26B-A4B also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Gemma 4 26B-A4B if…
- cost matters — it's about 15.2x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Gemma 4 26B-A4B and Mistral Medium 3.5don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Gemma 4 26B-A4B ($0.13/1M tokens) is 11.5x cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($1.50/1M tokens).
For output processing, Gemma 4 26B-A4B ($0.40/1M tokens) is 18.8x cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($7.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Medium 3.5 is more expensive than Gemma 4 26B-A4B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Mistral Medium 3.5 has 102.8B more parameters than Gemma 4 26B-A4B, making it 407.9% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Gemma 4 26B-A4B accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Mistral Medium 3.5's 256,000 tokens. Mistral Medium 3.5 can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Gemma 4 26B-A4B is limited to 131,072 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Gemma 4 26B-A4B and Mistral Medium 3.5 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Gemma 4 26B-A4B
Mistral Medium 3.5
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemma 4 26B-A4B is licensed under Apache 2.0, 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.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Modified MIT License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemma 4 26B-A4B was released on 2026-04-02, while Mistral Medium 3.5 was released on 2026-04-29.
Mistral Medium 3.5 is 1 month newer than Gemma 4 26B-A4B.
Apr 2, 2026
3 months ago
Apr 29, 2026
2 months ago
3w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Gemma 4 26B-A4B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Gemma 4 26B-A4B's training data extends to 2025-01-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
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Provider Availability
Gemma 4 26B-A4B is available from Novita. Mistral Medium 3.5 is available from Mistral AI.
Gemma 4 26B-A4B
Mistral Medium 3.5
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mistral Medium 3.5
View detailsMistral AI
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Gemma 4 26B-A4B and Mistral Medium 3.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 4 26B-A4B vs Mistral Medium 3.5.