Model Comparison
Mistral Medium 3.5 vs GPT-5.5Which is better in 2026?
GPT-5.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Medium 3.5 is 3.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Mistral Medium 3.5 vs GPT-5.5 — which is better?
Mistral Medium 3.5 (by Mistral AI) and GPT-5.5 (by OpenAI) 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.
Mistral Medium 3.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while GPT-5.5 is better at 3 benchmarks (BrowseComp, Finance Agent v2, GDPval-AA). GPT-5.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Mistral Medium 3.5 is roughly 3.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GPT-5.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,050,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…
- cost matters — it's about 3.8x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose GPT-5.5 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,050,000 token context window
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mistral Medium 3.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while GPT-5.5 is better at 3 benchmarks (BrowseComp, Finance Agent v2, GDPval-AA).
GPT-5.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Medium 3.5 ($1.50/1M tokens) is 3.3x cheaper than GPT-5.5 ($5.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Medium 3.5 ($7.50/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than GPT-5.5 ($30.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GPT-5.5 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
GPT-5.5 accepts 1,050,000 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 GPT-5.5 is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Mistral Medium 3.5 and GPT-5.5 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Mistral Medium 3.5
GPT-5.5
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Medium 3.5 is licensed under Modified MIT License, while GPT-5.5 uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Modified MIT License
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Medium 3.5 was released on 2026-04-29, while GPT-5.5 was released on 2026-04-23.
Mistral Medium 3.5 is 0 month newer than GPT-5.5.
Apr 29, 2026
2 months ago
6d newerApr 23, 2026
2 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-12-01, while Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-5.5's training data extends to 2025-12-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date.
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Dec 2025
Provider Availability
Mistral Medium 3.5 is available from Mistral AI. GPT-5.5 is available from OpenAI.
Mistral Medium 3.5
GPT-5.5
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mistral Medium 3.5
View detailsMistral AI
GPT-5.5
View detailsOpenAI
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Medium 3.5 and GPT-5.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Medium 3.5 vs GPT-5.5.