Model Comparison

Grok 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5Which is better in 2026?

Grok 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5 cost the same.

Verdict: Grok 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5 — which is better?

Grok 4.5 (by xAI) 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.

Grok 4.5 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GDPval-AA, Tau3 Banking), while Mistral Medium 3.5 is better at 0 benchmarks. Grok 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Grok 4.5 also accepts a larger context window (500,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Grok 4.5 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 500,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Grok 4.5 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GDPval-AA, Tau3 Banking), while Mistral Medium 3.5 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

For input processing, Grok 4.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($1.50/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok 4.5 ($6.00/1M tokens) is 1.3x cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5 ($7.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5 cost the same.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok 4.5
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$6.00
Best providerxAI
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
Input tokens$1.50
Output tokens$7.50
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Grok 4.5 accepts 500,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Medium 3.5's 256,000 tokens. Only Mistral Medium 3.5 specifies output context (256,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok 4.5
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5 support multimodal inputs.

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

Grok 4.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Medium 3.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok 4.5 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.

Grok 4.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral Medium 3.5

Modified MIT License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok 4.5 was released on 2026-07-16, while Mistral Medium 3.5 was released on 2026-04-29.

Grok 4.5 is 3 months newer than Mistral Medium 3.5.

Grok 4.5

Jul 16, 2026

1 weeks ago

2mo newer
Mistral Medium 3.5

Apr 29, 2026

2 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-02-01, while Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok 4.5's training data extends to 2026-02-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date.

Grok 4.5

Feb 2026

Mistral Medium 3.5

—

Provider Availability

Grok 4.5 is available from xAI. Mistral Medium 3.5 is available from Mistral AI.

Grok 4.5

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M

Mistral Medium 3.5

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $1.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $7.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI
Larger context window (500,000 tokens)
Less expensive output tokens
Higher GDPval-AA score (51.4% vs 30.9%)
Higher Tau3 Banking score (33.0% vs 13.4%)
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok 4.5
✓ Preferred
Mistral Medium 3.5
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok 4.5
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5

FAQ

Common questions about Grok 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5.

Which is better, Grok 4.5 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Grok 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok 4.5 is made by xAI and Mistral Medium 3.5 is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok 4.5 compare to Mistral Medium 3.5 in benchmarks?

Grok 4.5 scores GPQA: 93.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 83.3%, Artificial Analysis Coding Agent Index v1.1: 76.0%, SWE-Bench Pro: 64.7%, AA-Omniscience Index: 63.0%. Mistral Medium 3.5 scores COLLIE: 95.8%, Tau3 Telecom: 91.4%, AIME 2025: 86.3%, SWE-Bench Verified: 77.6%, Tau3 Retail: 76.1%.

Is Grok 4.5 cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.5 is 1.3x cheaper for input tokens. Grok 4.5 costs $2.00/M input and $6.00/M output via xai. Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50/M input and $7.50/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Grok 4.5 supports 500K tokens and Mistral Medium 3.5 supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Key differences include context window (500K vs 256K), input pricing ($2.00 vs $1.50/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Modified MIT License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok 4.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Grok 4.5 is developed by xAI and Mistral Medium 3.5 is developed by Mistral AI.

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