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Head-to-head comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5

Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Claude Sonnet 5 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#13 vs #38); Mistral Medium 3.5 is 1.3× cheaper per output token ($7.50/1M vs $10.00/1M); and Claude Sonnet 5 offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Claude Sonnet 5 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #13 against #38 (73.6 vs 53.9 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 1.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1523 against 1479.
  • LMArena Agent is your yardstick — 7.1% against -7.0%.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 55.3 against 30.4.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Claude Sonnet 5 was listed 30 June 2026, Mistral Medium 3.5 30 April 2026.

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • API cost matters — $7.50/1M output tokens against $10.00/1M, about 1.3× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $1.50/1M against $2.00/1M.

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Claude Sonnet 5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
FieldClaude Sonnet 5AnthropicMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI
ModelCap Index position#13#38
Index score73.653.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$2.00$1.50
Output price / 1M tokens$10.00$7.50
Context window1M tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens128K—
API providers listed51
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileText, Image, File
First listed30 June 202630 April 2026
PublisherAnthropicMistral AI

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Claude Sonnet 5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5

Public benchmark boards where Claude Sonnet 5 or Mistral Medium 3.5 has a published result
BoardClaude Sonnet 5Mistral Medium 3.5Leads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)15231514–1531High14791468–1490Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena AgentLMArena7.1%4.9%–9.4%High-7.0%-9.0%–-5.0%Claude Sonnet 5
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis55.3intelligence-index30.4intelligence-indexClaude Sonnet 5

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5: common questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Mistral Medium 3.5?

Claude Sonnet 5 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #13 against #38. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.5 is cheaper on output tokens: $7.50/1M against $10.00/1M. Input tokens are $2.00/1M for Claude Sonnet 5 and $1.50/1M for Mistral Medium 3.5. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Arena coding: Claude Sonnet 5 1523, Mistral Medium 3.5 1479 — Claude Sonnet 5 leads.

Are Claude Sonnet 5 and Mistral Medium 3.5 open-weight models?

Claude Sonnet 5: API only. Mistral Medium 3.5: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Claude Sonnet 5 and Mistral Medium 3.5?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Claude Sonnet 5 and 1 for Mistral Medium 3.5, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Claude Sonnet 5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5 comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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